Prioritization of positioning-related reports in uplink

ABSTRACT

Disclosed are various techniques for wireless communication. In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) identifies a set of positioning sources, each positioning source comprising a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, and/or a transmission/reception point (TRP). From the set of positioning sources, the UE identifies a consistency group comprising a collection of positioning sources grouped based on expected values of at least one metric of a reference signal from each positioning source, measured values of the at least one metric for the reference signal from each positioning source, and an error threshold. The UE identifies one or more subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group, each subset having at least one metric error value. The UE reports, to a network entity, information about the consistency group and information about at least one of the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 63/092,477, filed Oct. 15, 2020, entitled “PRIORITIZATION OFPOSITIONING-RELATED REPORTS IN UPLINK,” which is assigned to theassignee hereof and is expressly incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 1. Field of the Disclosure

Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to wireless communications.

2. Description of the Related Art

Wireless communication systems have developed through variousgenerations, including a first-generation analog wireless phone service(1G), a second-generation (2G) digital wireless phone service (includinginterim 2.5G and 2.75G networks), a third-generation (3G) high speeddata, Internet-capable wireless service, and a fourth-generation (4G)service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). There are presentlymany different types of wireless communication systems in use, includingcellular and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples ofknown cellular systems include the cellular analog advanced mobile phonesystem (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code divisionmultiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), timedivision multiple access (TDMA), the Global System for Mobilecommunication (GSM), etc.

A fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, referred to as New Radio(NR), calls for higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers ofconnections, and better coverage, among other improvements. The 5Gstandard, according to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, isdesigned to provide data rates of several tens of megabits per second toeach of tens of thousands of users, with 1 gigabit per second to tens ofworkers on an office floor. Several hundreds of thousands ofsimultaneous connections should be supported in order to support largesensor deployments. Consequently, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobilecommunications should be significantly enhanced compared to the current4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiencies should be enhanced andlatency should be substantially reduced compared to current standards.

SUMMARY

The following presents a simplified summary relating to one or moreaspects disclosed herein. Thus, the following summary should not beconsidered an extensive overview relating to all contemplated aspects,nor should the following summary be considered to identify key orcritical elements relating to all contemplated aspects or to delineatethe scope associated with any particular aspect. Accordingly, thefollowing summary has the sole purpose to present certain conceptsrelating to one or more aspects relating to the mechanisms disclosedherein in a simplified form to precede the detailed descriptionpresented below.

In an aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a userequipment (UE) includes identifying a set of positioning sources, eachpositioning source comprising a positioning reference signal (PRS)resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, atransmission/reception point (TRP), or a combination thereof;identifying, from the set of positioning sources, positioning sourcesthat form a consistency group, the consistency group comprising acollection of positioning sources grouped based on an expected value ofat least one metric of a reference signal from each positioning source,a measured value of the at least one metric for the reference signalfrom each positioning source, and an error threshold; identifying one ormore subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group, eachsubset having at least one metric error value; and reporting, to anetwork entity, information about the consistency group and informationabout at least one of the subsets of positioning sources within theconsistency group.

In an aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a basestation includes receiving, from a network entity, a set of positioningsources, each positioning source comprising a PRS resource, a PRSresource set, a PRS frequency layer, a TRP, or a combination thereof;sending, to a UE, the set of positioning sources; receiving, from theUE, information about a consistency group and information about at leastone subset of positioning sources within the consistency group, theconsistency group comprising a collection of positioning sources groupedbased on an expected value of at least one metric of a reference signalfrom each positioning source, a measured value of the at least onemetric for the reference signal from each positioning source, and anerror threshold; and sending, to the network entity, the informationabout the consistency group and the information about the at least onesubset of positioning sources within the consistency group.

In an aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a networkentity includes sending, to a base station, a set of positioningsources, each positioning source comprising a PRS resource, a PRSresource set, a PRS frequency layer, a TRP, or a combination thereof;and receiving, from the base station, information about a consistencygroup and information about at least one subset of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, the consistency group comprising acollection of positioning sources grouped based on an expected value ofat least one metric of a reference signal from each positioning source,a measured value of the at least one metric for the reference signalfrom each positioning source, and an error threshold.

In an aspect, a UE includes a memory; at least one transceiver; and atleast one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the atleast one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to:identify a set of positioning sources, each positioning sourcecomprising a PRS resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, aTRP, or a combination thereof; identify, from the set of positioningsources, positioning sources that form a consistency group, theconsistency group comprising a collection of positioning sources groupbased on an expected value of at least one metric of a reference signalfrom each positioning source, a measured value of the at least onemetric for the reference signal from each positioning source, and anerror threshold; identify one or more subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, each subset having at least one metricerror value; and report, to a network entity, information about theconsistency group and information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group.

In an aspect, a base station (BS) includes a memory; at least onetransceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to thememory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processorconfigured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, from a networkentity, a set of positioning sources, each positioning source comprisinga PRS resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, a TRP, or acombination thereof; send, via the at least one transceiver, to a UE,the set of positioning sources; receive, via the at least onetransceiver, from the UE, information about a consistency group andinformation about at least one subset of positioning sources within theconsistency group, the consistency group comprising a collection ofpositioning sources grouped based on an expected value of at least onemetric of a reference signal from each positioning source, a measuredvalue of the at least one metric for the reference signal from eachpositioning source, and an error threshold; and send, via the at leastone transceiver, to the network entity, the information about theconsistency group and the information about the at least one subset ofpositioning sources within the consistency group.

In an aspect, a network entity includes a memory; at least onetransceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to thememory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processorconfigured to: send, via the at least one transceiver, to a basestation, a set of positioning sources, each positioning sourcecomprising a PRS resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, aTRP, or a combination thereof; and receive, via the at least onetransceiver, from the base station, information about a consistencygroup and information about at least one subset of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, the consistency group comprising acollection of positioning sources grouped based on an expected value ofat least one metric of a reference signal from each positioning source,a measured value of the at least one metric for the reference signalfrom each positioning source, and an error threshold.

In an aspect, a UE includes means for identifying a set of positioningsources, each positioning source comprising a PRS resource, a PRSresource set, a PRS frequency layer, a TRP, or a combination thereof;means for identifying, from the set of positioning sources, positioningsources that form a consistency group, the consistency group comprisinga collection of positioning sources means for grouping based on anexpected value of at least one metric of a reference signal from eachpositioning source, a measured value of the at least one metric for thereference signal from each positioning source, and an error threshold;means for identifying one or more subsets of positioning sources withinthe consistency group, each subset having at least one metric errorvalue; and means for reporting, to a network entity, information aboutthe consistency group and information about at least one of the subsetsof positioning sources within the consistency group.

In an aspect, a BS includes means for receiving, from a network entity,a set of positioning sources, each positioning source comprising a PRSresource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, a TRP, or acombination thereof; means for sending, to a UE, the set of positioningsources; means for receiving, from the UE, information about aconsistency group and information about at least one subset ofpositioning sources within the consistency group, the consistency groupcomprising a collection of positioning sources grouped based on anexpected value of at least one metric of a reference signal from eachpositioning source, a measured value of the at least one metric for thereference signal from each positioning source, and an error threshold;and means for sending, to the network entity, the information about theconsistency group and the information about the at least one subset ofpositioning sources within the consistency group.

In an aspect, a network entity includes means for sending, to a basestation, a set of positioning sources, each positioning sourcecomprising a PRS resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, aTRP, or a combination thereof; and means for receiving, from the basestation, information about a consistency group and information about atleast one subset of positioning sources within the consistency group,the consistency group comprising a collection of positioning sourcesgrouped based on an expected value of at least one metric of a referencesignal from each positioning source, a measured value of the at leastone metric for the reference signal from each positioning source, and anerror threshold.

In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a UE, cause theUE to: identify a set of positioning sources, each positioning sourcecomprising a PRS resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, aTRP, or a combination thereof; identify, from the set of positioningsources, positioning sources that form a consistency group, theconsistency group comprising a collection of positioning sources groupbased on an expected value of at least one metric of a reference signalfrom each positioning source, a measured value of the at least onemetric for the reference signal from each positioning source, and anerror threshold; identify one or more subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, each subset having at least one metricerror value; and report, to a network entity, information about theconsistency group and information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group.

In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a BS, cause theBS to: receive, from a network entity, a set of positioning sources,each positioning source comprising a PRS resource, a PRS resource set, aPRS frequency layer, a TRP, or a combination thereof; send, to a UE, theset of positioning sources; receive, from the UE, information about aconsistency group and information about at least one subset ofpositioning sources within the consistency group, the consistency groupcomprising a collection of positioning sources grouped based on anexpected value of at least one metric of a reference signal from eachpositioning source, a measured value of the at least one metric for thereference signal from each positioning source, and an error threshold;and send, to the network entity, the information about the consistencygroup and the information about the at least one subset of positioningsources within the consistency group.

In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a networkentity, cause the network entity to: send, to a base station, a set ofpositioning sources, each positioning source comprising a PRS resource,a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, a TRP, or a combinationthereof; and receive, from the base station, information about aconsistency group and information about at least one subset ofpositioning sources within the consistency group, the consistency groupcomprising a collection of positioning sources grouped based on anexpected value of at least one metric of a reference signal from eachpositioning source, a measured value of the at least one metric for thereference signal from each positioning source, and an error threshold.

Other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosedherein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on theaccompanying drawings and detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the description ofexamples of one or more aspects of the disclosed subject matter and areprovided solely for illustration of the examples and not limitationthereof:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communications system,according to various aspects.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate example wireless network structures,according to various aspects.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are simplified block diagrams of several sampleaspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE), abase station, and a network entity, respectively, and configured tosupport communications as taught herein.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating example frame structures andchannels within the frame structures, according to aspects of thedisclosure.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating how a non-line-of-sight (NLOS)positioning signal can cause a user equipment (UE) to miscalculate itsposition.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a conventional method for outlierdetection.

FIG. 7 illustrates a method of wireless communication according to someaspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 8, 9A, and 9B are flowcharts illustrating partial methods ofwireless communication according to some aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example result of methods of wirelesscommunication according to some aspects of the disclosure.

FIGS. 11 and 12 are flowcharts illustrating methods of wirelesscommunication according to some aspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the disclosure are provided in the following description andrelated drawings directed to various examples provided for illustrationpurposes. Alternate aspects may be devised without departing from thescope of the disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of thedisclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as notto obscure the relevant details of the disclosure.

To overcome the technical disadvantages of conventional systems andmethods described above, mechanisms by which the bandwidth used by auser equipment (UE) for positioning reference signal (PRS) can bedynamically adjusted, e.g., response to environmental conditions, arepresented. For example, a UE receiver may indicate to a transmittingentity a condition of the environment in which the UE is operating, andin response the transmitting entity may adjust the PRS bandwidth.

The words “exemplary” and “example” are used herein to mean “serving asan example, instance, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as“exemplary” or “example” is not necessarily to be construed as preferredor advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term “aspects of thedisclosure” does not require that all aspects of the disclosure includethe discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the information andsignals described below may be represented using any of a variety ofdifferent technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions,commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may bereferenced throughout the description below may be represented byvoltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles,optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending inpart on the particular application, in part on the desired design, inpart on the corresponding technology, etc.

Further, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions tobe performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will berecognized that various actions described herein can be performed byspecific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits(ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or moreprocessors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequence(s)of actions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirelywithin any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumhaving stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions that,upon execution, would cause or instruct an associated processor of adevice to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the variousaspects of the disclosure may be embodied in a number of differentforms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of theclaimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the aspects describedherein, the corresponding form of any such aspects may be describedherein as, for example, “logic configured to” perform the describedaction.

As used herein, the terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station” arenot intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radioaccess technology (RAT), unless otherwise noted. In general, a UE may beany wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tabletcomputer, laptop computer, tracking device, wearable (e.g., smartwatch,glasses, augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.),vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet ofThings (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wirelesscommunications network. A UE may be mobile or may (e.g., at certaintimes) be stationary, and may communicate with a radio access network(RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” may be referred to interchangeablyas an “access terminal” or “AT,” a “client device,” a “wireless device,”a “subscriber device,” a “subscriber terminal,” a “subscriber station,”a “user terminal” (UT), a “mobile device,” a “mobile terminal,” a“mobile station,” or variations thereof. Generally, UEs can communicatewith a core network via a RAN, and through the core network the UEs canbe connected with external networks such as the Internet and with otherUEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core network, tothe Internet, or to both are also possible for the UEs, such as overwired access networks, wireless local area network (WLAN) networks(e.g., based on IEEE 802.11, etc.) and so on.

A base station may operate according to one of several RATs incommunication with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed,and may be alternatively referred to as an access point (AP), a networknode, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), aNew Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A basestation may be used primarily to support wireless access by UEs,including supporting data, voice, signaling connections, or variouscombinations thereof for the supported UEs. In some systems a basestation may provide purely edge node signaling functions while in othersystems it may provide additional control functions, network managementfunctions, or both. A communication link through which UEs can sendsignals to a base station is called an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., areverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel,etc.). A communication link through which the base station can sendsignals to UEs is called a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g.,a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forwardtraffic channel, etc.). As used herein the term traffic channel (TCH)can refer to either an uplink/reverse or downlink/forward trafficchannel.

The term “base station” may refer to a single physicaltransmission-reception point (TRP) or to multiple physical TRPs that mayor may not be co-located. For example, where the term “base station”refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna ofthe base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) ofthe base station. Where the term “base station” refers to multipleco-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be an array of antennas(e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where thebase station employs beamforming) of the base station. Where the term“base station” refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, thephysical TRPs may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network ofspatially separated antennas connected to a common source via atransport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base stationconnected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-locatedphysical TRPs may be the serving base station receiving the measurementreport from the UE and a neighbor base station whose reference radiofrequency (RF) signals (or simply “reference signals”) the UE ismeasuring. Because a TRP is the point from which a base stationtransmits and receives wireless signals, as used herein, references totransmission from or reception at a base station are to be understood asreferring to a particular TRP of the base station.

In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base stationmay not support wireless access by UEs (e.g., may not support data,voice, signaling connections, or various combinations thereof for UEs),but may instead transmit reference signals to UEs to be measured by theUEs, may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UEs, or both.Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g.,when transmitting signals to UEs), as a location measurement unit (e.g.,when receiving and measuring signals from UEs), or both.

An “RF signal” comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequencythat transports information through the space between a transmitter anda receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single “RFsignal” or multiple “RF signals” to a receiver. However, the receivermay receive multiple “RF signals” corresponding to each transmitted RFsignal due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals throughmultipath channels. The same transmitted RF signal on different pathsbetween the transmitter and receiver may be referred to as a “multipath”RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a“wireless signal” or simply a “signal” where it is clear from thecontext that the term “signal” refers to a wireless signal or an RFsignal.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communications system 100according to various aspects. The wireless communications system 100(which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN))may include various base stations 102 and various UEs 104. The basestations 102 may include macro cell base stations (high power cellularbase stations), small cell base stations (low power cellular basestations), or both. In an aspect, the macro cell base station mayinclude eNBs, ng-eNBs, or both, where the wireless communications system100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs where the wirelesscommunications system 100 corresponds to a NR network, or a combinationof both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells,picocells, microcells, etc.

The base stations 102 may collectively form a radio access network (RAN)106 and interface with a core network 108 (e.g., an evolved packet core(EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) through backhaul links 110, and through thecore network 108 to one or more location servers 112 (which may be partof core network 108 or may be external to core network 108). In additionto other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions thatrelate to one or more of transferring user data, radio channel cipheringand deciphering, integrity protection, header compression, mobilitycontrol functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cellinterference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing,distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection,synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service(MBMS), subscriber and equipment trace, RAN information management(RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The basestations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly(e.g., through the EPC/5GC) over backhaul links 114, which may be wiredor wireless.

The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Eachof the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for arespective geographic coverage area 116. In an aspect, one or more cellsmay be supported by a base station 102 in each geographic coverage area116. A “cell” is a logical communication entity used for communicationwith a base station (e.g., over some frequency resource, referred to asa carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, or the like), andmay be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier(PCI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI))for distinguishing cells operating via the same or a different carrierfrequency. In some cases, different cells may be configured according todifferent protocol types (e.g., machine-type communication (MTC),narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others)that may provide access for different types of UEs. Because a cell issupported by a specific base station, the term “cell” may refer toeither or both of the logical communication entity and the base stationthat supports it, depending on the context. In addition, because a TRPis typically the physical transmission point of a cell, the terms “cell”and “TRP” may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term “cell”may also refer to a geographic coverage area of a base station (e.g., asector), insofar as a carrier frequency can be detected and used forcommunication within some portion of geographic coverage areas 116.

While neighboring macro cell base station 102 geographic coverage areas116 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover region), some of thegeographic coverage areas 116 may be substantially overlapped by alarger geographic coverage area 116. For example, a small cell basestation 102′ may have a coverage area 116′ that substantially overlapswith the geographic coverage area 116 of one or more macro cell basestations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macro cellbase stations may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneousnetwork may also include home eNBs (HeNBs), which may provide service toa restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

The communication links 118 between the base stations 102 and the UEs104 may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissionsfrom a UE 104 to a base station 102, downlink (also referred to asforward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104, orboth. The communication links 118 may use MIMO antenna technology,including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, transmit diversity, orvarious combinations thereof. The communication links 118 may be throughone or more carrier frequencies. Allocation of carriers may beasymmetric with respect to downlink and uplink (e.g., more, or lesscarriers may be allocated for downlink than for uplink).

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 120 in communication withWLAN stations (STAs) 122 via communication links 124 in an unlicensedfrequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in an unlicensedfrequency spectrum, the WLAN STAs 122, the WLAN AP 120, or variouscombinations thereof may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) orlisten-before-talk (LBT) procedure prior to communicating in order todetermine whether the channel is available.

The small cell base station 102′ may operate in a licensed, anunlicensed frequency spectrum, or both. When operating in an unlicensedfrequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102′ may employ LTE orNR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum asused by the WLAN AP 120. The small cell base station 102′, employingLTE/5G in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage to theaccess network, increase capacity of the access network, or both. NR inunlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in an unlicensedspectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, licensed assisted access (LAA), orMulteFire.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a millimeterwave (mmW) base station 126 that may operate in mmW frequencies, in nearmmW frequencies, or a combination thereof in communication with a UE128. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in theelectromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and awavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in thisband may be referred to as a millimeter wave. Near mmW may extend downto a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The superhigh frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, alsoreferred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW/near mmWradio frequency band have high path loss and a relatively short range.The mmW base station 126 and the UE 128 may utilize beamforming(transmit, receive, or both) over a mmW communication link 130 tocompensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Further, itwill be appreciated that in alternative configurations, one or more basestations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming.Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the foregoing illustrations aremerely examples and should not be construed to limit the various aspectsdisclosed herein.

Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in aspecific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a basestation) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in alldirections (omni-directionally). With transmit beamforming, the networknode determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located(relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a strongerdownlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing afaster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal for the receivingdevice(s). To change the directionality of the RF signal whentransmitting, a network node can control the phase and relativeamplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters thatare broadcasting the RF signal. For example, a network node may use anarray of antennas (referred to as a “phased array” or an “antennaarray”) that creates a beam of RF waves that can be “steered” to pointin different directions, without actually moving the antennas.Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to theindividual antennas with the correct phase relationship so that theradio waves from the separate antennas add together to increase theradiation in a desired direction, while canceling to suppress radiationin undesired directions.

Transmit beams may be quasi-collocated, meaning that they appear to thereceiver (e.g., a UE) as having the same parameters, regardless ofwhether or not the transmitting antennas of the network node themselvesare physically collocated. In NR, there are four types ofquasi-collocation (QCL) relations. Specifically, a QCL relation of agiven type means that certain parameters about a second reference RFsignal on a second beam can be derived from information about a sourcereference RF signal on a source beam. Thus, if the source reference RFsignal is QCL Type A, the receiver can use the source reference RFsignal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, anddelay spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the samechannel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type B, the receivercan use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift andDoppler spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the samechannel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type C, the receivercan use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift andaverage delay of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the samechannel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receivercan use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial receiveparameter of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the samechannel.

In receive beamforming, the receiver uses a receive beam to amplify RFsignals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver canincrease the gain setting, adjust the phase setting, or a combinationthereof, of an array of antennas in a particular direction to amplify(e.g., to increase the gain level of) the RF signals received from thatdirection. Thus, when a receiver is said to beamform in a certaindirection, it means the beam gain in that direction is high relative tothe beam gain along other directions, or the beam gain in that directionis the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all otherreceive beams available to the receiver. This results in a strongerreceived signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP),reference signal received quality (RSRQ),signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signalsreceived from that direction.

Receive beams may be spatially related. A spatial relation means thatparameters for a transmit beam for a second reference signal can bederived from information about a receive beam for a first referencesignal. For example, a UE may use a particular receive beam to receiveone or more reference downlink reference signals (e.g., positioningreference signals (PRS), narrowband reference signals (NRS) trackingreference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signal (PTRS),cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state informationreference signals (CSI-RS), primary synchronization signals (PSS),secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks(SSBs), etc.) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beamfor sending one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., uplinkpositioning reference signals (UL-PRS), sounding reference signal (SRS),demodulation reference signals (DMRS), PTRS, etc.) to that base stationbased on the parameters of the receive beam.

Note that a “downlink” beam may be either a transmit beam or a receivebeam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base stationis forming the downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to a UE, thedownlink beam is a transmit beam. If the UE is forming the downlinkbeam, however, it is a receive beam to receive the downlink referencesignal. Similarly, an “uplink” beam may be either a transmit beam or areceive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a basestation is forming the uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, and ifa UE is forming the uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.

In 5G, the frequency spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., basestations 102/126, UEs 104/128) operate is divided into multiplefrequency ranges, FR1 (from 450 to 6000 MHz), FR2 (from 24250 to 52600MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). In amulti-carrier system, such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies isreferred to as the “primary carrier” or “anchor carrier” or “primaryserving cell” or “PCell,” and the remaining carrier frequencies arereferred to as “secondary carriers” or “secondary serving cells” or“SCells.” In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrieroperating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by a UE 104/128and the cell in which the UE 104/128 either performs the initial radioresource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiatesthe RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carriercarries all common and UE-specific control channels and may be a carrierin a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). Asecondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g.,FR2) that may be configured once the RRC connection is establishedbetween the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and that may be used toprovide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carriermay be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier maycontain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example,those that are UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier,since both primary uplink and downlink carriers are typicallyUE-specific. This means that different UEs 104/128 in a cell may havedifferent downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplinkprimary carriers. The network is able to change the primary carrier ofany UE 104/128 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance theload on different carriers. Because a “serving cell” (whether a PCell oran SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency/component carrier overwhich some base station is communicating, the term “cell,” “servingcell,” “component carrier,” “carrier frequency,” and the like can beused interchangeably.

For example, still referring to FIG. 1 , one of the frequencies utilizedby the macro cell base stations 102 may be an anchor carrier (or“PCell”) and other frequencies utilized by the macro cell base stations102, the mmW base station 126, or a combination thereof may be secondarycarriers (“SCells”). The simultaneous transmission, reception, or bothof multiple carriers enables the UE 104/128 to significantly increaseits data transmission rates, reception rates, or both. For example, two20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoreticallylead to a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz), compared tothat attained by a single 20 MHz carrier.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include one or moreUEs, such as UE 132, that connects indirectly to one or morecommunication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D)peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “sidelinks”). In the example ofFIG. 1 , UE 132 has a D2D P2P link 134 with one of the UEs 104 connectedto one of the base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE 132 mayindirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link 194 withWLAN STA 122 connected to the WLAN AP 120 (through which UE 132 mayindirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In an example, theD2D P2P link 134 and P2P link 136 may be supported with any well-knownD2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®,and so on.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a UE 138 thatmay communicate with a macro cell base station 102 over a communicationlink 118, with the mmW base station 126 over a mmW communication link130, or a combination thereof. For example, the macro cell base station102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 138 and themmW base station 126 may support one or more SCells for the UE 138.

FIG. 2A illustrates an example wireless network structure 200 accordingto various aspects. For example, a 5GC 210 (also referred to as a NextGeneration Core (NGC)) can be viewed functionally as control planefunctions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access,gateway selection, etc.) and user plane functions 212, (e.g., UE gatewayfunction, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) which operatecooperatively to form the core network. User plane interface (NG-U) 213and control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC210 and specifically to the control plane functions 214 and user planefunctions 212. In an additional configuration, an ng-eNB 224 may also beconnected to the 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to the control plane functions 214and NG-U 213 to user plane functions 212. Further, ng-eNB 224 maydirectly communicate with gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In someconfigurations, the New RAN 220 may only have one or more gNBs 222,while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNBs 224 andgNBs 222. Either gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 may communicate with UEs 204(e.g., any of the UEs depicted in FIG. 1 ). Another optional aspect mayinclude a location server 112, which may be in communication with the5GC 210 to provide location assistance for UEs 204. The location server112 can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g.,physically separate servers, different software modules on a singleserver, different software modules spread across multiple physicalservers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server.The location server 112 can be configured to support one or morelocation services for UEs 204 that can connect to the location server112 via the core network, 5GC 210, via the Internet (not illustrated),or via both. Further, the location server 112 may be integrated into acomponent of the core network, or alternatively may be external to thecore network.

FIG. 2B illustrates another example wireless network structure 250according to various aspects. For example, a 5GC 260 can be viewedfunctionally as control plane functions, provided by an access andmobility management function (AMF) 264, and user plane functions,provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperativelyto form the core network (i.e., 5GC 260). User plane interface 263 andcontrol plane interface 265 connect the ng-eNB 224 to the 5GC 260 andspecifically to UPF 262 and AMF 264, respectively. In an additionalconfiguration, a gNB 222 may also be connected to the 5GC 260 viacontrol plane interface 265 to AMF 264 and user plane interface 263 toUPF 262. Further, ng-eNB 224 may directly communicate with gNB 222 viathe backhaul connection 223, with or without gNB direct connectivity tothe 5GC 260. In some configurations, the New RAN 220 may only have oneor more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of bothng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 may communicatewith UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs depicted in FIG. 1 ). The basestations of the New RAN 220 communicate with the AMF 264 over the N2interface and with the UPF 262 over the N3 interface.

The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connectionmanagement, reachability management, mobility management, lawfulinterception, transport for session management (SM) messages between theUE 204 and a session management function (SMF) 266, transparent proxyservices for routing SM messages, access authentication and accessauthorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messagesbetween the UE 204 and the short message service function (SMSF) (notshown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 alsointeracts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) andthe UE 204, and receives the intermediate key that was established as aresult of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case ofauthentication based on a UMTS (universal mobile telecommunicationssystem) subscriber identity module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves thesecurity material from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF 264 alsoinclude security context management (SCM). The SCM receives a key fromthe SEAF that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. Thefunctionality of the AMF 264 also includes location services managementfor regulatory services, transport for location services messagesbetween the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270 (whichacts as a location server 112), transport for location services messagesbetween the New RAN 220 and the LMF 270, evolved packet system (EPS)bearer identifier allocation for interworking with the EPS, and UE 204mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supportsfunctionalities for non-3GPP access networks.

Functions of the UPF 262 include acting as an anchor point forintra-/inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an externalprotocol data unit (PDU) session point of interconnect to a data network(not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection,user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, trafficsteering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usagereporting, quality of service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g.,uplink/downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in thedownlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoSflow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink anddownlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notificationtriggering, and sending and forwarding of one or more “end markers” tothe source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support transfer of locationservices messages over a user plane between the UE 204 and a locationserver, such as a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform(SLP) 272.

The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internetprotocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and controlof user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering at the UPF262 to route traffic to the proper destination, control of part ofpolicy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. Theinterface over which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 isreferred to as the N11 interface.

Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which may be incommunication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for UEs204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers(e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on asingle server, different software modules spread across multiplephysical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a singleserver. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more locationservices for UEs 204 that can connect to the LMF 270 via the corenetwork, 5GC 260, via the Internet (not illustrated), or via both. TheSLP 272 may support similar functions to the LMF 270, but whereas theLMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, New RAN 220, and UEs 204 overa control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to conveysignaling messages and not voice or data), the SLP 272 may communicatewith UEs 204 and external clients (not shown in FIG. 2B) over a userplane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice or data like thetransmission control protocol (TCP) and/or IP).

In an aspect, the LMF 270, the SLP 272, or both may be integrated into abase station, such as the gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224. When integratedinto the gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224, the LMF 270 or the SLP 272 may bereferred to as a location management component (LMC). However, as usedherein, references to the LMF 270 and the SLP 272 include both the casein which the LMF 270 and the SLP 272 are components of the core network(e.g., 5GC 260) and the case in which the LMF 270 and the SLP 272 arecomponents of a base station.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (representedby corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (whichmay correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304(which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), anda network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of thenetwork functions described herein, including the location server 230and the LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent from the NG-RAN 220and/or 5GC 210/260 infrastructure depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B, such as aprivate network) to support the file transmission operations as taughtherein. It will be appreciated that these components may be implementedin different types of apparatuses in different implementations (e.g., inan ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated componentsmay also be incorporated into other apparatuses in a communicationsystem. For example, other apparatuses in a system may includecomponents similar to those described to provide similar functionality.Also, a given apparatus may contain one or more of the components. Forexample, an apparatus may include multiple transceiver components thatenable the apparatus to operate on multiple carriers and/or communicatevia different technologies.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 each include one or more wirelesswide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively,providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, meansfor receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means forrefraining from transmitting, etc.) via one or more wirelesscommunication networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTEnetwork, a GSM network, and/or the like. The WWAN transceivers 310 and350 may each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356,respectively, for communicating with other network nodes, such as otherUEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc., via at leastone designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wirelesscommunication medium of interest (e.g., some set of time/frequencyresources in a particular frequency spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310and 350 may be variously configured for transmitting and encodingsignals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, and soon), respectively, and conversely, for receiving and decoding signals318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and soon), respectively, in accordance with the designated RAT. Specifically,the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314and 354, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively,for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 each also include, at least in somecases, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360,respectively. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may beconnected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and providemeans for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means forreceiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refrainingfrom transmitting, etc.) with other network nodes, such as other UEs,access points, base stations, etc., via at least one designated RAT(e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, Z-Wave®, PC5, dedicatedshort-range communications (DSRC), wireless access for vehicularenvironments (WAVE), near-field communication (NFC), etc.) over awireless communication medium of interest. The short-range wirelesstransceivers 320 and 360 may be variously configured for transmittingand encoding signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications,information, and so on), respectively, and conversely, for receiving anddecoding signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information,pilots, and so on), respectively, in accordance with the designated RAT.Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 includeone or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, for transmitting andencoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one or more receivers322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and368, respectively. As specific examples, the short-range wirelesstransceivers 320 and 360 may be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth®transceivers, Zigbee® and/or Z-Wave® transceivers, NFC transceivers, orvehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and/or vehicle-to-everything (V2X)transceivers.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 also include, at least in somecases, satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signalreceivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and/or measuringsatellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378, respectively.Where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellitepositioning system receivers, the satellite positioning/communicationsignals 338 and 378 may be global positioning system (GPS) signals,global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals,Beidou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC),Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. Where the satellite signalreceivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, thesatellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378 may becommunication signals (e.g., carrying control and/or user data)originating from a 5G network. The satellite signal receivers 330 and370 may comprise any suitable hardware and/or software for receiving andprocessing satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378,respectively. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may requestinformation and operations as appropriate from the other systems, and,at least in some cases, perform calculations to determine locations ofthe UE 302 and the base station 304, respectively, using measurementsobtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm.

The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or morenetwork transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, providing means forcommunicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.)with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, othernetwork entities 306). For example, the base station 304 may employ theone or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other basestations 304 or network entities 306 over one or more wired or wirelessbackhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employthe one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or morebase station 304 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, orwith other network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless corenetwork interfaces.

A transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wirelesslink. A transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wirelesstransceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314,324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352,362). A transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., embodyingtransmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry in a single device) in someimplementations, may comprise separate transmitter circuitry andseparate receiver circuitry in some implementations, or may be embodiedin other ways in other implementations. The transmitter circuitry andreceiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers380 and 390 in some implementations) may be coupled to one or more wirednetwork interface ports. Wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g.,transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to aplurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as anantenna array, that permits the respective apparatus (e.g., UE 302, basestation 304) to perform transmit “beamforming,” as described herein.Similarly, wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352,362) may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g.,antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that permits therespective apparatus (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receivebeamforming, as described herein. In an aspect, the transmittercircuitry and receiver circuitry may share the same plurality ofantennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such that the respectiveapparatus can only receive or transmit at a given time, not both at thesame time. A wireless transceiver (e.g., WWAN transceivers 310 and 350,short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) may also include anetwork listen module (NLM) or the like for performing variousmeasurements.

As used herein, the various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers310, 320, 350, and 360, and network transceivers 380 and 390 in someimplementations) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380and 390 in some implementations) may generally be characterized as “atransceiver,” “at least one transceiver,” or “one or more transceivers.”As such, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wirelesstransceiver may be inferred from the type of communication performed.For example, backhaul communication between network devices or serverswill generally relate to signaling via a wired transceiver, whereaswireless communication between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station(e.g., base station 304) will generally relate to signaling via awireless transceiver.

The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 alsoinclude other components that may be used in conjunction with theoperations as disclosed herein. The UE 302, the base station 304, andthe network entity 306 include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394,respectively, for providing functionality relating to, for example,wireless communication, and for providing other processingfunctionality. The processors 332, 384, and 394 may therefore providemeans for processing, such as means for determining, means forcalculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means forindicating, etc. In an aspect, the processors 332, 384, and 394 mayinclude, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-coreprocessors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signalprocessors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), otherprogrammable logic devices or processing circuitry, or variouscombinations thereof.

The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 includememory circuitry implementing memories 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., eachincluding a memory device), respectively, for maintaining information(e.g., information indicative of reserved resources, thresholds,parameters, and so on). The memories 340, 386, and 396 may thereforeprovide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining,etc. In some cases, the UE 302, the base station 304, and the networkentity 306 may include positioning component 342, 388, and 398,respectively. The positioning component 342, 388, and 398 may behardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processors 332,384, and 394, respectively, that, when executed, cause the UE 302, thebase station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform thefunctionality described herein. In other aspects, the positioningcomponent 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processors 332, 384,and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated withanother processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the positioningcomponent 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in the memories340, 386, and 396, respectively, that, when executed by the processors332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processingsystem, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the networkentity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. FIG. 3Aillustrates possible locations of the positioning component 342, whichmay be, for example, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, thememory 340, the one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof,or may be a standalone component. FIG. 3B illustrates possible locationsof the positioning component 388, which may be, for example, part of theone or more WWAN transceivers 350, the memory 386, the one or moreprocessors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalonecomponent. FIG. 3C illustrates possible locations of the positioningcomponent 398, which may be, for example, part of the one or morenetwork transceivers 390, the memory 396, the one or more processors394, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component.

The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the one ormore processors 332 to provide means for sensing or detecting movementand/or orientation information that is independent of motion dataderived from signals received by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310,the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and/or thesatellite signal receiver 330. By way of example, the sensor(s) 344 mayinclude an accelerometer (e.g., a micro-electrical mechanical systems(MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), analtimeter (e.g., a barometric pressure altimeter), and/or any other typeof movement detection sensor. Moreover, the sensor(s) 344 may include aplurality of different types of devices and combine their outputs inorder to provide motion information. For example, the sensor(s) 344 mayuse a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and orientation sensorsto provide the ability to compute positions in two-dimensional (2D)and/or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate systems.

In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 providing meansfor providing indications (e.g., audible and/or visual indications) to auser and/or for receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of asensing device such a keypad, a touch screen, a microphone, and so on).Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 mayalso include user interfaces.

Referring to the one or more processors 384 in more detail, in thedownlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to theprocessor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implementfunctionality for an RRC layer, a packet data convergence protocol(PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium accesscontrol (MAC) layer. The one or more processors 384 may provide RRClayer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information(e.g., master information block (MIB), system information blocks(SIBs)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRCconnection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRCconnection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configurationfor UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated withheader compression/decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering,integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover supportfunctions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upperlayer PDUs, error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ),concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units(SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC dataPDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping betweenlogical channels and transport channels, scheduling informationreporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channelprioritization.

The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement Layer-1 (L1)functionality associated with various signal processing functions.Layer-1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include errordetection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC)coding/decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching,mapping onto physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physicalchannels, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handlesmapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes(e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying(QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation(M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split intoparallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with areference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/or frequency domain, andthen combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) toproduce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream.The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatialstreams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used todetermine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatialprocessing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signaland/or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Eachspatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with a respectivespatial stream for transmission.

At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives a signal through its respectiveantenna(s) 316. The receiver 312 recovers information modulated onto anRF carrier and provides the information to the one or more processors332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement Layer-1functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Thereceiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information torecover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatialstreams are destined for the UE 302, they may be combined by thereceiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The receiver 312 thenconverts the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequencydomain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signalcomprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDMsignal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, arerecovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signalconstellation points transmitted by the base station 304. These softdecisions may be based on channel estimates computed by a channelestimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and de-interleaved torecover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted bythe base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and controlsignals are then provided to the one or more processors 332, whichimplements Layer-3 (L3) and Layer-2 (L2) functionality.

In the uplink, the one or more processors 332 provides demultiplexingbetween transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering,header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IPpackets from the core network. The one or more processors 332 are alsoresponsible for error detection.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the downlinktransmission by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information(e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurementreporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with headercompression/decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering,integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionalityassociated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correctionthrough ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs,re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; andMAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channelsand transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks(TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling informationreporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request(HARM), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a referencesignal or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 may be used bythe transmitter 314 to select the appropriate coding and modulationschemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streamsgenerated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antenna(s)316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with a respectivespatial stream for transmission.

The uplink transmission is processed at the base station 304 in a mannersimilar to that described in connection with the receiver function atthe UE 302. The receiver 352 receives a signal through its respectiveantenna(s) 356. The receiver 352 recovers information modulated onto anRF carrier and provides the information to the one or more processors384.

In the uplink, the one or more processors 384 provides demultiplexingbetween transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering,header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packetsfrom the UE 302. IP packets from the one or more processors 384 may beprovided to the core network. The one or more processors 384 are alsoresponsible for error detection.

For convenience, the UE 302, the base station 304, and/or the networkentity 306 are shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C as including variouscomponents that may be configured according to the various examplesdescribed herein. It will be appreciated, however, that the illustratedcomponents may have different functionality in different designs. Inparticular, various components in FIGS. 3A to 3C are optional inalternative configurations and the various aspects includeconfigurations that may vary due to design choice, costs, use of thedevice, or other considerations. For example, in case of FIG. 3A, aparticular implementation of UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 310(e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or PC or laptop may haveWi-Fi and/or Bluetooth capability without cellular capability), or mayomit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 320 (e.g., cellular-only,etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 330, or may omit thesensor(s) 344, and so on. In another example, in case of FIG. 3B, aparticular implementation of the base station 304 may omit the WWANtransceiver(s) 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi “hotspot” access point withoutcellular capability), or may omit the short-range wirelesstransceiver(s) 360 (e.g., cellular-only, etc.), or may omit thesatellite receiver 370, and so on. For brevity, illustration of thevarious alternative configurations is not provided herein, but would bereadily understandable to one skilled in the art.

The various components of the UE 302, the base station 304, and thenetwork entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to each other overdata buses 334, 382, and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses334, 382, and 392 may form, or be part of, a communication interface ofthe UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306,respectively. For example, where different logical entities are embodiedin the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionalityincorporated into the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382,and 392 may provide communication between them.

The components of FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in variousways. In some implementations, the components of FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3Cmay be implemented in one or more circuits such as, for example, one ormore processors and/or one or more ASICs (which may include one or moreprocessors). Here, each circuit may use and/or incorporate at least onememory component for storing information or executable code used by thecircuit to provide this functionality. For example, some or all of thefunctionality represented by blocks 310 to 346 may be implemented byprocessor and memory component(s) of the UE 302 (e.g., by execution ofappropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processorcomponents). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented byblocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by processor and memorycomponent(s) of the base station 304 (e.g., by execution of appropriatecode and/or by appropriate configuration of processor components). Also,some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may beimplemented by processor and memory component(s) of the network entity306 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriateconfiguration of processor components). For simplicity, variousoperations, acts, and/or functions are described herein as beingperformed “by a UE,” “by a base station,” “by a network entity,” etc.However, as will be appreciated, such operations, acts, and/or functionsmay actually be performed by specific components or combinations ofcomponents of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc.,such as the processors 332, 384, 394, the transceivers 310, 320, 350,and 360, the memories 340, 386, and 396, the positioning component 342,388, and 398, etc.

In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a corenetwork component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may bedistinct from a network operator or operation of the cellular networkinfrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and/or 5GC 210/260). For example, thenetwork entity 306 may be a component of a private network that may beconfigured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 orindependently from the base station 304 (e.g., over a non-cellularcommunication link, such as WiFi).

NR supports a number of cellular network-based positioning technologies,including downlink-based, uplink-based, and downlink-and-uplink-basedpositioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include observedtime difference of arrival (OTDoA) in LTE, downlink time difference ofarrival (DL-TDoA) in NR, and downlink angle-of-departure (DL-AoD) in NR.In an OTDoA or DL-TDoA positioning procedure, a UE measures thedifferences between the times of arrival (ToAs) of reference signals(e.g., PRS, TRS, narrowband reference signal (NRS), CSI-RS, SSB, etc.)received from pairs of base stations, referred to as reference signaltime difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDoA)measurements, and reports them to a positioning entity. Morespecifically, the UE receives the identifiers of a reference basestation (e.g., a serving base station) and multiple non-reference basestations in assistance data. The UE then measures the RSTD between thereference base station and each of the non-reference base stations.Based on the known locations of the involved base stations and the RSTDmeasurements, the positioning entity can estimate the UE's location. ForDL-AoD positioning, a base station measures the angle and other channelproperties (e.g., signal strength) of the downlink transmit beam used tocommunicate with a UE to estimate the location of the UE.

Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference ofarrival (UL-TDoA) and uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDoA issimilar to DL-TDoA, but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS)transmitted by the UE. For UL-AoA positioning, a base station measuresthe angle and other channel properties (e.g., gain level) of the uplinkreceive beam used to communicate with a UE to estimate the location ofthe UE.

Downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods include enhanced cell-ID(E-CID) positioning and multi-round-trip-time (RTT) positioning (alsoreferred to as “multi-cell RTT”). In an RTT procedure, an initiator (abase station or a UE) transmits an RTT measurement signal (e.g., a PRSor SRS) to a responder (a UE or base station), which transmits an RTTresponse signal (e.g., an SRS or PRS) back to the initiator. The RTTresponse signal includes the difference between the ToA of the RTTmeasurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response signal,referred to as the reception-to-transmission (Rx-Tx) measurement. Theinitiator calculates the difference between the transmission time of theRTT measurement signal and the ToA of the RTT response signal, referredto as the “Tx-Rx” measurement. The propagation time (also referred to asthe “time of flight”) between the initiator and the responder can becalculated from the Tx-Rx and Rx-Tx measurements. Based on thepropagation time and the known speed of light, the distance between theinitiator and the responder can be determined. For multi-RTTpositioning, a UE performs an RTT procedure with multiple base stationsto enable its location to be triangulated based on the known locationsof the base stations. RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined withother positioning techniques, such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD, to improvelocation accuracy.

The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM)measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, the timingadvance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strengthof detected neighbor base stations. The location of the UE is thenestimated based on this information and the known locations of the basestations.

To assist positioning operations, a location server (e.g., locationserver 112, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. Forexample, the assistance data may include identifiers of the basestations (or the cells/TRPs of the base stations) from which to measurereference signals, the reference signal configuration parameters (e.g.,the number of consecutive positioning slots, periodicity of positioningslots, muting sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference signalidentifier (ID), reference signal bandwidth, slot offset, etc.), otherparameters applicable to the particular positioning method, or acombination thereof. Alternatively, the assistance data may originatedirectly from the base stations themselves (e.g., in periodicallybroadcasted overhead messages, etc.). In some cases, the UE may be ableto detect neighbor network nodes itself without the use of assistancedata.

A location estimate may be referred to by other names, such as aposition estimate, location, position, position fix, fix, or the like. Alocation estimate may be geodetic and comprise coordinates (e.g.,latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude) or may be civic and comprisea street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of alocation. A location estimate may further be defined relative to someother known location or defined in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude,longitude, and possibly altitude). A location estimate may include anexpected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volumewithin which the location is expected to be included with some specifiedor default level of confidence).

Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplinktransmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs).

FIG. 4A is a diagram 400 illustrating an example of a downlink framestructure, according to aspects.

FIG. 4B is a diagram 430 illustrating an example of channels within thedownlink frame structure, according to aspects. Other wirelesscommunications technologies may have different frame structures,different channels, or both.

LTE, and in some cases NR, utilizes OFDM on the downlink andsingle-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink.Unlike LTE, however, NR has an option to use OFDM on the uplink as well.OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple (K)orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones,bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. In general,modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in thetime domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may befixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may be dependent on thesystem bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers may be 15kHz and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) may be 12subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Consequently, the nominal FFT size may beequal to 128, 256, 504, 1024, or 2048 for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5,5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth mayalso be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.8MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16subbands for system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz,respectively.

LTE supports a single numerology (subcarrier spacing, symbol length,etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple numerologies (μ), forexample, subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, and 240kHz or greater may be available. Table 1 provided below lists somevarious parameters for different NR numerologies.

TABLE 1 Max. nominal Slot Symbol system BW SCS Symbols/ Slots/ Slots/Duration Duration (MHz) with μ (kHz) Sot Subframe Frame (ms) (μs) 4K FFTsize 0 15 14 1 10 1 66.7 50 1 30 14 2 20 0.5 33.3 100 2 60 14 4 40 0.2516.7 200 3 120 14 8 80 0.125 8.33 400 4 240 14 16 160 0.0625 4.17 800

In the example of FIGS. 4A and 4B, a numerology of 15 kHz is used. Thus,in the time domain, a 10 millisecond (ms) frame is divided into 10equally sized subframes of 1 ms each, and each subframe includes onetime slot. In FIGS. 4A and 4B, time is represented horizontally (e.g.,on the X axis) with time increasing from left to right, while frequencyis represented vertically (e.g., on the Y axis) with frequencyincreasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top.

A resource grid may be used to represent time slots, each time slotincluding one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (alsoreferred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. Theresource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs).An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and onesubcarrier in the frequency domain. In NR, a subframe is 1 ms induration, a slot is fourteen symbols in the time domain, and an RBcontains twelve consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain andfourteen consecutive symbols in the time domain. Thus, in NR there isone RB per slot. Depending on the SCS, an NR subframe may have fourteensymbols, twenty-eight symbols, or more, and thus may have 1 slot, 2slots, or more. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on themodulation scheme.

Some of the REs carry downlink reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS). TheDL-RS may include PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, etc.FIG. 4A illustrates exemplary locations of REs carrying PRS (labeled“R”).

A “PRS instance” or “PRS occasion” is one instance of a periodicallyrepeated time window (e.g., a group of one or more consecutive slots)where PRS are expected to be transmitted. A PRS occasion may also bereferred to as a “PRS positioning occasion,” a “PRS positioninginstance, a “positioning occasion,” “a positioning instance,” a“positioning repetition,” or simply an “occasion,” an “instance,” or a“repetition.”

A collection of resource elements (REs) that are used for transmissionof PRS is referred to as a “PRS resource.” The collection of resourceelements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and ‘N’ (e.g., 1or more) consecutive symbol(s) within a slot in the time domain. In agiven OFDM symbol in the time domain, a PRS resource occupiesconsecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

The transmission of a PRS resource within a given PRB has a particularcomb size (also referred to as the “comb density”). A comb size ‘N’represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency/tone spacing) withineach symbol of a PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for a combsize ‘N,’ PRS are transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of a symbol of aPRB. For example, for comb-4, for each of the fourth symbols of the PRSresource configuration, REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier(e.g., subcarriers 0, 4, 8) are used to transmit PRS of the PRSresource. Currently, comb sizes of comb-2, comb-4, comb-6, and comb-12are supported for DL PRS. FIG. 4A illustrates an exemplary PRS resourceconfiguration for comb-6 (which spans six symbols). That is, thelocations of the shaded REs (labeled “R”) indicate a comb-6 PRS resourceconfiguration.

A “PRS resource set” is a set of PRS resources used for the transmissionof PRS signals, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. Inaddition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated withthe same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set IDand is associated with a particular TRP (identified by a TRP ID). Inaddition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set have the sameperiodicity, a common muting pattern configuration, and the samerepetition factor (e.g., PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor) across slots. Theperiodicity is the time from the first repetition of the first PRSresource of a first PRS instance to the same first repetition of thesame first PRS resource of the next PRS instance. The periodicity mayhave a length selected from 2^(μ)·{4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80,160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5040, 10240} slots, with μ=0, 1, 2, 3. Therepetition factor may have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16,32} slots.

A PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam(or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where a TRP may transmit oneor more beams). That is, each PRS resource of a PRS resource set may betransmitted on a different beam, and as such, a “PRS resource,” orsimply “resource,” can also be referred to as a “beam.” Note that thisdoes not have any implications on whether the TRPs and the beams onwhich PRS are transmitted are known to the UE.

A “positioning frequency layer” (also referred to simply as a “frequencylayer”) is a collection of one or more PRS resource sets across one ormore TRPs that have the same values for certain parameters.Specifically, the collection of PRS resource sets has the samesubcarrier spacing (SCS) and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning allnumerologies supported for the PDSCH are also supported for PRS), thesame Point A, the same value of the downlink PRS bandwidth, the samestart PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb-size. The Point Aparameter takes the value of the parameter ARFCN-ValueNR (where “ARFCN”stands for “absolute radio-frequency channel number”) and is anidentifier/code that specifies a pair of physical radio channel used fortransmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth may have agranularity of four PRBs, with a minimum of 24 PRBs and a maximum of 272PRBs. Currently, up to four frequency layers have been defined, and upto two PRS resource sets may be configured per TRP per frequency layer.

The concept of a frequency layer is somewhat like the concept ofcomponent carriers and bandwidth parts (BWPs), but different in thatcomponent carriers and BWPs are used by one base station (or a macrocell base station and a small cell base station) to transmit datachannels, while frequency layers are used by several (usually three ormore) base stations to transmit PRS. A UE may indicate the number offrequency layers it can support when it sends the network itspositioning capabilities, such as during an LTE positioning protocol(LPP) session. For example, a UE may indicate whether it can support oneor four positioning frequency layers.

FIG. 4B illustrates an example of various channels within a downlinkslot of a radio frame. In NR, the channel bandwidth, or systembandwidth, is divided into multiple BWPs. A BWP is a contiguous set ofPRBs selected from a contiguous subset of the common RBs for a givennumerology on a given carrier. Generally, a maximum of four BWPs can bespecified in the downlink and uplink. That is, a UE can be configuredwith up to four BWPs on the downlink, and up to four BWPs on the uplink.Only one BWP (uplink or downlink) may be active at a given time, meaningthe UE may only receive or transmit over one BWP at a time. On thedownlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to or greater thanthe bandwidth of the SSB, but it may or may not contain the SSB.

Referring to FIG. 4B, a primary synchronization signal (PSS) is used bya UE to determine subframe/symbol timing and a physical layer identity.A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) is used by a UE to determine aphysical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Basedon the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identitygroup number, the UE can determine a PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE candetermine the locations of the aforementioned DL-RS. The physicalbroadcast channel (PBCH), which carries an MIB, may be logically groupedwith the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also referred to as an SS/PBCH).The MIB provides a number of RBs in the downlink system bandwidth and asystem frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted throughthe PBCH, such as system information blocks (SIBs), and paging messages.

The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries downlink controlinformation (DCI) within one or more control channel elements (CCEs),each CCE including one or more RE group (REG) bundles (which may spanmultiple symbols in the time domain), each REG bundle including one ormore REGs, each REG corresponding to 12 resource elements (one resourceblock) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain.The set of physical resources used to carry the PDCCH/DCI is referred toin NR as the control resource set (CORESET). In NR, a PDCCH is confinedto a single CORESET and is transmitted with its own DMRS. This enablesUE-specific beamforming for the PDCCH.

In the example of FIG. 4B, there is one CORESET per BWP, and the CORESETspans three symbols (although it could be only one or two symbols) inthe time domain. Unlike LTE control channels, which occupy the entiresystem bandwidth, in NR, PDCCH channels are localized to a specificregion in the frequency domain (i.e., a CORESET). Thus, the frequencycomponent of the PDCCH shown in FIG. 4B is illustrated as less than asingle BWP in the frequency domain. Note that although the illustratedCORESET is contiguous in the frequency domain, it need not be. Inaddition, the CORESET may span less than three symbols in the timedomain.

The DCI within the PDCCH carries information about uplink resourceallocation (persistent and non-persistent) and descriptions aboutdownlink data transmitted to the UE. Multiple (e.g., up to eight) DCIscan be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs can have one of multipleformats. For example, there are different DCI formats for uplinkscheduling, for non-MIMO downlink scheduling, for MIMO downlinkscheduling, and for uplink power control. A PDCCH may be transported by1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs in order to accommodate different DCI payloadsizes or coding rates.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating how a non-line-of-sight (NLOS)positioning signal can cause a UE 104 to miscalculate its position. InFIG. 5 , the UE 104 operating within an area populated by multiple basestations 102 calculates its position based on time of arrival (ToA) ofsignals from those base stations 102. The UE 104 knows the geographiclocations of the base stations 102, e.g., via receipt of assistance dataprovided by a location server. The assistance data may also identify PRSresources, PRS resource sets, transmission reception points (TRPs), or acombination thereof, for the UE to use for positioning. For brevity ofdescription, PRS resources, PRS resource sets, TRPs, or a combinationthereof, will be collectively referred to herein as “positioningsources.” The UE 104 determines its geographic position based on itsdistance from each of one or more of the base stations 102, which the UE104 calculates based on the ToA of signals from the particular basestation 102 and the speed of a radio signal in air, presuming that theToA corresponds to the time of flight of a LOS path.

However, if a signal from a base station 102 is an NLOS signal, thesignal will have traveled farther than the direct distance to the UE,and so the ToA of the NLOS signal will be later than the ToA of thatsignal had it been a LOS signal instead of a NLOS signal. This meansthat if the UE 104 happens to base its positioning estimation on the ToAof a NLOS signal, the artificially long ToA value of the NLOS signalwill skew the position calculation such that the UE 104 is in anapparent location that is different from its actual location. Thus, onechallenge is to distinguish NLOS signals from LOS signals, so that NLOSsignals are excluded from consideration during positioning estimations.

One method to distinguish NLOS signals from LOS signal is outlierdetection. Outlier detection analyzes positioning signals from a set ofcells to each other to determine which of those cells seem to produceToA values that are “outliers” compared to ToA values produced by othercells in the cohort. Outlier detection produces what is referred to as a“consistency group”, which is a collection of N number of positioningsources that resulted in positioning measurements (e.g., RSTD, RSRP,Rx-Tx) such that using a subset X of those N positioning sources forpositioning would result in a position estimate which, if used toestimate the ToA to the remaining N-X positioning sources, would resultin a value having a timing error within a threshold T. The size of theconsistency group produced by outlier detection on a set of cells can beany value from zero to the size of the entire set of cells beinganalyzed, but is usually a value somewhere in between.

A computationally complete analysis of the cells in the set to eachother would require the comparison of every possible combination ofsubsets of cells to the remainder of the cells in the cohort, but thisis computationally burdensome and impractical for UEs, so a techniquecalled random sampling and consensus (RANSAC) is used instead. Thistechnique analyzes a group of candidate positioning sources to eachother in various combinations by randomly selecting a subset of thepositioning sources in the group, generating an estimated UE positionbased on that subset, using that position estimate so generated topredict the ToA timings to the rest of the positioning sources not inthat subset, and checking to see how well the predicted ToA matched theactual ToA for each of the positioning sources not in the subset, e.g.,by determining whether the difference between the actual and predictedToA is within a timing error threshold value T. Positioning sourceswithin the error threshold value are referred to as inliers. Positioningsources that are not within the threshold value are referred to asoutliers. The number of inliers L is determined for each randomlyselected sample.

Since it is possible that one of the positioning sources in the randomlyselected subset might be NLOS, which would skew the estimated UEposition and thus skew the estimated ToAs to the cells not in thatsubset, the RANSAC algorithm performs the operations described abovemultiple times, each time using a different randomly selected subset ofpositioning sources from the group. After a number of iterations, thesubset of positioning sources that produced the largest number ofinliers, and those inliers, are reported as the members of theconsistency group. The outliers are excluded from the consistency group.The identified consistency group is then used as the pool of positioningsources from which the UE calculates its final estimated position. Anexample implementation of RANSAC is shown in FIG. 6 .

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a conventional method 600 for outlierdetection, RANSAC. In FIG. 6 , at 602, the UE identifies a set ofpositioning sources of candidate positioning sources (in this example, aset of cells), e.g., based on link quality. At 604, the UE randomlychooses a subset C of cells, the subset being of size K, e.g., having Knumber of cells in the subset. At 606, the UE estimates its positionusing ToA values of the positioning signals from cells in the subset C.At 608, the UE computes the expected ToA from cells in the set ofpositioning sources not in the subset C. At 610, the UE finds L, thenumber of inliers (cells where the difference between the actual ToA andthe expected ToA is within the timing error tolerance T). At 612, the UEdetermines whether or not processing of more subsets is needed, e.g., bydetermining if the number of random subsets is less than the targetnumber of random subsets M. If not, the process repeats starting from604, with another randomly selected subset of cells, and continues untilM subsets have been tested. From there, at 614, the subset C thatproduced the largest value for L is identified, and at 616, cells inthat subset, as well as the inliers found based on that subset, are usedto compute the position of the UE. At 618, the non-inlier cells aredeclared to be outlier cells, and at 620, the UE reports the consistencygroup membership as the set of positioning sources excluding the outliercells to the network.

There are disadvantages to the conventional method for identifyingoutliers described above. One disadvantage is that varying any of theparameters K (size of the random set C), M (number of iterations), and T(tolerance used to distinguish inliers from outliers) can lead todifferent results.

Another disadvantage is that, because not every possible combination ofsubsets and remainders was calculated, there is a possibility that notevery outlier was identified and excluded from the consistency group,meaning that it is possible that some subset C selected from theconsistency group could include a NLOS positioning source, which maylead to a positioning error. For example, the random selection processcould select a subset of positioning sources having multiple NLOS errorsthat happen to cancel each other and produce what seems to be reasonableresult, such that the algorithm does not identify the NLOS positioningsources and exclude them from the consistency group that it reports tothe network. Likewise, the random selection process could select randomgroups that, while not exactly the same, are similar enough to eachother that coverage of the full set of positioning sources is less thanintended, or the number M was effectively not big enough.

Yet another disadvantage is that the conventional method for outlieridentification reports the membership of the consistency group, which bydefinition includes positioning sources whose ToA values are within athreshold margin of error, but does not give an indication of whetherthe cells in the consistency group easily met the threshold or justbarely met the threshold, and does not give any information aboutwhether some groups of positioning sources had better consistency (e.g.,the difference between expected and actual ToA was smaller) compared toother groups.

Yet another disadvantage is that not only can an NLOS signal skew theapparent values of ToA, but an NLOS signal can also skew the values ofother time-angle metrics, such as RTT, RSTD, time difference of arrival(TDoA), angle of arrival (AoA) and zenith of arrival (ZoA) at the UE104, as well as angle of departure (AoD) and zenith of departure (ZoD)from the base station 102 for a signal received by the UE 104.Conventional methods, however, do not consider angle measurements, suchas AoA, AoD, ZoA, or ZoD, when defining consistency groups.

To address these technical disadvantages, an improved method foridentifying outliers is herein presented, wherein in addition toreporting a consistency group that satisfies an error threshold,information about subsets within the consistency group is also providedto the network. Also, the definition of consistency group is expanded tooptionally include consistency based on angle, i.e., the error thresholdmay be a timing error threshold (E_(T)), and angle error threshold(E_(A)), or a combination thereof. Thus, as used herein, the errorthreshold may refer to a timing error threshold, an angle errorthreshold, or combinations of both. Where multiple time-angle metricsare considered, in some aspects, each time-angle metric may have its ownseparate error threshold, there may be an error threshold applied tosome combination of time-angle metrics, or a combination thereof.

FIG. 7 illustrates a method 700 of wireless communication according tosome aspects of the disclosure. In FIG. 7 , at 702, a location server112 or other network entity sends a definition of a set of positioningsources to a base station 102 that is serving a UE 104. At 704, the basestation 102 forwards set of positioning sources to the UE 104. In someaspects, at 706, the location server 112 or other network entity mayprovide a predefined list of subsets of positioning sources within theset of positioning sources, and at 708, the base station 102 forwardsthe predefined list of subsets of positioning sources to the UE 104. At710, the UE performs outlier detection according to aspects of thepresent disclosure, described in more detail below, and at 712, the UEreports the results of the outlier detection, the results including anidentified consistency group and a list of at least one subset of thepositioning sources within the consistency group, shown in FIG. 7 as {Si. . . Sn}. Optionally, the UE 104 may also provide additionalinformation about each subset, such as their errors {Ei . . . En}, otherinformation, or a combination thereof. At 714, the base station 102forwards the information to the location server 112 or other networkentity.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a portion of method 700, outlierdetection 710, in more detail according to aspects of the disclosure. Insome implementations, one or more process blocks of FIG. 8 may beperformed by a user equipment (UE) (e.g., UE 104). In someimplementations, one or more process blocks of FIG. 8 may be performedby another device or a group of devices separate from or including theUE. Additionally, or alternatively, one or more process blocks of FIG. 8may be performed by one or more components of UE 302, such asprocessor(s) 332, memory 340, WWAN transceiver(s) 310, short-rangewireless transceiver(s) 320, satellite signal receiver 330, sensor(s)344, user interface 346, and positioning component(s) 342, any or all ofwhich may be means for performing the operations of outlier detection710.

As shown in FIG. 8 , outlier detection 710 may include identifying a setof positioning sources, each positioning source comprising a positioningreference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequencylayer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or a combination thereof(block 800). Means for performing the operation of block 800 may includethe processor(s) 332, memory 340, or WWAN transceiver(s) 310 of the UE302. For example, the UE 302 may receive the set of positioning sourcesfrom a base station, via the receiver(s) 312, or it may retrieve thatinformation previously stored in the memory 340.

As further shown in FIG. 8 , outlier detection 710 may includeidentifying, from the set of positioning sources, positioning sourcesthat form a consistency group, the consistency group comprising acollection of positioning sources that are grouped based on an expectedvalue of at least one metric of a reference signal from each positioningsource, a measured value of the at least one metric for the referencesignal from each positioning source, and an error threshold (block 802),and may include identifying one or more subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, each subset having an error value (block804). In some aspects, the at least one metric comprises a time ofarrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), atime difference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angleof departure (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof. In some aspects, theerror threshold comprises a time-angle threshold. In some aspects, thetime-angle threshold may include a timing threshold, an angle threshold,a received power threshold, or a combination thereof. In some aspects,the error threshold may include multiple time-angle thresholds. In someaspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy at least oneof the multiple time-angle thresholds. In some aspects, each member ofthe consistency group must satisfy all of the multiple time-anglethresholds.

Means for performing the operation of block 802 and block 804 mayinclude the processor(s) 332, memory 340, or WWAN transceiver(s) 310 ofthe UE 302. For example, in some aspects, the UE 302 may identifypositioning source that form a consistency group by using theprocessor(s) 332, memory 340, and WWAN transceiver(s) 310 to:

-   -   perform a sampling operation a number of times M>1, each        sampling operation using its own respective sampling subset of        the set of positioning sources to identify, as inliers,        positioning sources not in the sampling subset that have an        error less than the error threshold;    -   select a sampling subset according to a consensus metric,        identifying, as outliers, positioning sources not in the        selected sampling subset that do not have an error less than the        error threshold;    -   identify, as the consistency group, the set of positioning        sources excluding the outliers, and compute a UE position based        on values of one or more time-angle metrics from positioning        sources selected from a combination of the selected sampling        subset and the inliers identified using the sampling subset that        produced the largest number of inliers.

In some aspects, performing the sampling operation comprises selecting,from the set of positioning sources, a sampling subset, estimating,using values for the one or more time-angle metrics from the positioningsources in the sampling subset, a position of the UE, computing expectedvalues for the one or more time-angle metrics from the estimatedposition of the UE to the positioning sources in set of positioningsources not in the sampling subset, determining a number of inliersassociated with the sampling subset, the inliers comprising positioningsources in set of positioning sources not in the sampling subset thathave an error less than the error threshold, and determining an error ofthe inliers, which may be an average error, a maximum error, a minimumerror, or other error metric.

In some aspects, selecting the sampling subset from the set ofpositioning sources comprises selecting positioning sources within theset of positioning sources to comprise the sampling subset randomly,according to a pseudorandom sequence, or from a predefined list ofsubsets of positioning sources within the set of positioning sources. Insome aspects, every sampling subset is a same size. In some aspects, atleast one sampling subset is a different size from another samplingsubset. In some aspects, the method may include storing the samplingsubset, Li, and the error of the inliers.

As further shown in FIG. 8 , outlier detection 710 may includereporting, to a network entity, information about the consistency groupand information about at least one of the subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group (block 806). Means for performing theoperation of block 806 may include the processor(s) 332, memory 340, orWWAN transceiver(s) 310 of the UE 302. For example, the UE 302 may sendthe report using the transmitter(s) 314. In some aspects, reportinginformation about at least one of the subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group comprises identifying the positioningsources included in each subset. In some aspects, reporting informationabout at least one of the subsets of positioning sources within theconsistency group comprises reporting an error associated with eachsubset, reporting an error for each positioning source included in thesubset, reporting the error for each positioning source with respect tothe error threshold, reporting the error with respect to a consensusvalue produced by the subset, or a combination thereof. In some aspects,the positioning sources included in each subset are identifiedcompletely or differentially, explicitly or implicitly, by index orreference, or a combination thereof. In some aspects, reportinginformation about at least one of the subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group comprises reporting subsets having an errorthat satisfies a threshold reporting value.

Outlier detection 710 may include additional implementations, such asany single implementation or any combination of implementationsdescribed below and/or in connection with one or more other processesdescribed elsewhere herein. Although FIG. 8 shows example blocks ofoutlier detection 710, in some implementations, outlier detection 710may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, ordifferently arranged blocks than those depicted in FIG. 8 .Additionally, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of outlierdetection 710 may be performed in parallel.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are flow charts illustrating portions of the outlierdetection shown in FIG. 8 in more detail, according to some aspects ofthe disclosure.

In FIG. 9A, block 802, identifying positioning sources that form aconsistency group, and block 804, identifying one or more subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group, comprise the followingsteps.

At 900, from set of positioning sources, choose a sampling subset ofsize K. (For brevity, a sampling subset may also be referred to hereinsimply as a subset.) In some aspects, the subset may be randomlyselected from the set of positioning sources. In some aspects, thesubset may be selected from a predefined list of subsets provided to theUE by the network.

At 902, estimate the UE position using values of one or more time-anglemetrics from the positioning sources in sampling subset. In one example,the UE position is estimated using ToA values from the positioningsources in the sampling subset. In another example, the UE position isestimated using the combination of ToA and AoA values from thepositioning sources in the sampling subset.

At 904, use the UE position to compute expected values of the one ormore time-angle metrics values from cells in set of positioning sourcesbut not in subset. In one example, the estimated UE position is used tocompute expected values of ToA for the cells in set of positioningsources but not in subset. In another example, the estimated UE positionis used to compute expected values of ToA and AoA for the cells in setof positioning sources but not in subset.

At 906, determine Li, the number of inliers in the set of positioningsources associated with the sampling subset, and the error of theinliers. For example, the error of the inliers may be a timing error, anangle error, or a combination thereof. In some aspects, the error of theinliers is the average error of the inliers, but may alternatively bethe maximum time-angel metric error of the inliers, or may be calculatedin some other manner.

At 908, the subset, number of inliers Li based on subset, and the errorof those inliers is stored (e.g., in a random access memory (RAM) orflash memory within the UE) for later access. In some aspects, the listof inliers Ii determined using the sampling subset may also be stored.

The operations 900 through 908 comprises a sampling and consensusoperation 910 using one subset of the positioning sources in set ofpositioning sources, and, at 912, it is determined whether additionalsampling and consensus operations 910 should be performed. In FIG. 9A, aparameter M specifies how many sampling and consensus operations 910,and thus, how many subsets, must be processed. If the number of subsetsthat have been processed is less than M, the sampling and consensusoperation 910 is repeated until M subsets have been processed. In someaspects, during each sampling and consensus operation 910, the values ofthe sampling subset, Li, and the error of the inliers are stored, e.g.,{S₁, L₁, E₁} through {S_(M), L_(M), E_(M)} will have been stored by thetime the process goes to 914.

At 914, a sampling subset that produced the largest number of inliers(i.e., Lx) is selected. At 916, non-inlier positioning sources aredeclared as outlier positioning sources. At 918, the consistency groupis defined as the set of positioning sources excluding the outlierpositioning sources. At 920, the UE position is computed using ToAvalues of positioning sources within the consistency group.

In FIG. 9B, block 806, reporting information about the consistency groupand information about at least one of the one or more subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group to the networkcomprises, at 922, reporting the membership of the consistency group,and at 924, reporting the membership of at least one of the samplingsubsets (and, optionally, Ii), and the error of the inliers associatedwith the sampling subset. In some aspects, the UE only reports thosesubsets having an error less than a reporting threshold T_(R).

FIG. 10 illustrates an example result of outlier detection 710, in whicha set of positioning sources U is analyzed, resulting in a consistencygroup G and a set of outliers O. Within the consistency group, severalsubsets S1-S7 are identified.

In some aspects, the subsets may be the same size or may be differentsizes. In FIG. 10 , for example, S4 is a small subset and S7 is a bigsubset. In some aspects, a minimum number of subsets P may be configuredas a reporting requirement. In some aspects, the value for P may dependupon the size of the set of positioning sources. In some aspects, thesubsets may have to satisfy the same error threshold or different errorthresholds. For example, in some aspects, all subsets may have tosatisfy the error threshold but the maximum deviation from the errorthreshold is reported. In some aspects, the detailed consistency errorsof each link in the consistency group or subset may be reported. In someaspects, for each link in the consistency group or subset, its errorwith respect to the consensus, rather than to the threshold, may bereported; this may provide some benefits to model the error distributionmore accurately. In some aspects, multiple thresholds may be configured,with the requirement that at least Pi subsets must meet a particularthreshold.

Random. In some aspects, the membership of the subsets is chosenrandomly from the members of set of positioning sources. In theseaspects, the subset report identifies the membership of each subset. Insome aspects, the network may instruct or configure the UE with thenumber of random subsets to be tried.

Pseudorandom. In some aspects, the membership of the subsets is chosenpseudo-randomly, e.g., according to a pseudorandom sequence (PRS) knownto both the UE and the network. In these aspects, the UE may report thesubsets as initial values for the pseudorandom number generator (PNG),i.e., the PNG “seed”, and offsets into the PRS generated, and variousother parameters, e.g., to indicate the sizes of each subset, etc., withwhich the network can reconstruct the list of members of each subset. Insome aspects, the network may provide the PNG seed value to the UE.

Predefined. In some aspects, the membership of the subsets is providedto the UE, e.g., by a location server. In some aspects, the UE canreport which of these sets can be used to derive consistentmeasurements. In these aspects, the subset report may identify which ofthe predefined subsets are being reported by index, offset, key, field,or other identifier. In some aspects, the predefined subsets may bedefined by an earlier UE report, by an RRC configuration from the basestation or location server, or a combination thereof.

In some aspects, a subset of the consistency group may be reported usingthe same report format used to report the consistency group.

In some aspects, where the subsets are randomly generated, each subsetmay be explicitly (e.g., fully or completely) described in the report.In some aspects, a subset may be described as a list of the positioningsources Pi that are within the subset, e.g., the sampling subset Si={P₁,P₃, P₉, P₁₀}, which themselves may be explicitly or implicitlyidentified or described (e.g., by index or reference). In some aspects,a subset may be described using a list of the positioning sources thatare not within the subset, e.g., the sampling subset Si=U−{P₄, P₈}. Insome aspects, where the subsets are selected from a predefined list ofsubsets of positioning sources within set of positioning sources, thesubsets may be identified by name, position or index in the list, etc.,which the location server can use to determine the positioning sourceswithin that subset.

In some aspects, a list of subsets may be reported differentially. Insome aspects, nested subsets may be reported in order of increasingsize, where the membership of the smallest subset is fully specified,and for each of the larger subsets, only the additional members of thelarger subset is reported.

Referring again to FIG. 10 , in one example S5={A,B,C}, S6={A,B,C,D,E},and S7={A,B,C,D,E,F}. In this example, the report format could be:

-   -   (S5: {A,B,C}; S6:+{D,E}; S7:+{F})        In another example, where S2={G,H,I,J,K,L} and S3={I,J,K,L,M,N},        the report format could identify the intersection of the two        sets (indicated by operator “∩”) and the membership of one set X        that isn't in the other set Y (indicated by operator “X\Y”):    -   S2∩S3:{I,J,K,L}; S2\S3:{G,H}; S3\S2: {M,N}        or a dummy subset Sx may be used, e.g.:    -   Sx:{I,J,K,L}; S1:Sx+{G,H}; S2:Sx+{M,N}        for example. These examples are not limiting, and illustrate the        point that the size of a subset report may be reduced by        differential reporting, other data compression methods, or a        combination thereof.

In some aspects, the report format may depend on whether the report iscarried on L1 (e.g., in an uplink control information (UCI) message), onL2 (e.g., in a MAC-CE), or on L3 (e.g., via RRC, LPP, etc.). In someaspects, the report format may depend on subset constraints describedabove. For example, where the subsets are grouped by differentthresholds, subsets within each threshold may be reported differentiallyas a group.

In some aspects, a subset may be reported only if it satisfies areporting threshold. For example, in some embodiments, the subset may bereported if a timing error for that threshold satisfies a thresholdreporting value Tr.

In some aspects, subsets to be reported may be subject to constraintsthat limit how much one subset may overlap with another subset, e.g.,how many positioning sources can be common to both subsets. For example,reporting two subsets that differ by only one positioning source may beless useful than reporting two subsets that differ more substantially.In some aspects, two subsets differ substantially if the number ofelements common to both subsets is less than a threshold number orthreshold percentage of the number of elements in the subset. In someaspects, two subsets differ substantially if the number of elements notcommon to both subsets is greater than a threshold number of thresholdpercentage of the number of elements in the subset. In some aspects, thethreshold number or threshold percentage may be the same for allsubsets. In some aspects, the threshold number or threshold percentagemay be different for different subsets, e.g., it may depend on the sizeof the subset. In some aspects, two subsets differ substantially if atleast one of the subsets satisfies the criteria for non-overlap. In someaspects, two differ substantially only if both of the subsets satisfythe criteria for non-overlap. In FIG. 10 , for example, the membershipsof subsets S2 and S3 may not differ by a sufficient amount that bothshould be reported. In some aspects, one of the two sets (e.g., eitherS2 or S3) is reported. In some aspects, neither set is reported. In someaspects, such as where the relative timing errors of S2 and S3 are thesame or sufficiently similar, a new set comprising the union of S2 andS3 may be reported.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of an example process 1100 associated withprioritization of positioning-related reports in uplink, according toaspects of the disclosure. In some implementations, one or more processblocks of FIG. 11 may be performed by a base station (BS) (e.g., BS 102)or a gNodeB (gNB). In some implementations, one or more process blocksof FIG. 11 may be performed by another device or a group of devicesseparate from or including the BS. Additionally, or alternatively, oneor more process blocks of FIG. 11 may be performed by one or morecomponents of BS 304, such as processor(s) 384, memory 386, WWANtransceiver(s) 350, short-range wireless transceiver(s) 360, satellitesignal receiver 370, network transceiver(s) 380, and positioningcomponent(s) 388, any or all of which may be means for performing theoperations of process 1100.

As shown in FIG. 11 , process 1100 may include receiving, from a networkentity, a set of positioning sources, each positioning source comprisinga positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRSfrequency layer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or a combinationthereof (block 1102). Means for performing the operation of block 1102may include the processor(s) 384, memory 386, or WWAN transceiver(s) 350of the BS 304. For example, the BS 304 may receive the set ofpositioning sources using the receiver(s) 352. In some aspects, thenetwork entity may include a location server. In some aspects, thelocation server may include a location management function (LMF) or asecure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP). In someaspects, the base station may include a gNodeB (gNB). In some aspects,the location server may be a component of, or co-located with, the basestation.

As further shown in FIG. 11 , process 1100 may include sending, to auser equipment (UE), the set of positioning sources (block 1104). Meansfor performing the operation of block 1104 may include the processor(s)384, memory 386, or WWAN transceiver(s) 350 of the BS 304. For example,the BS 304 may send the set of positioning sources using thetransmitter(s) 354. In some aspects, the set of positioning sources maybe transmitted to the UE via RRC or LLP.

In some aspects, as further shown in FIG. 11 , the base station mayoptionally receive, from the network entity, a predefined list ofsubsets of positioning sources within the set of positioning sources(optional block 1106) and may optionally send the predefined list ofsubsets of positioning sources to the UE (optional block 1108). Meansfor performing the operations of optional block 1106 and optional block1108 may include the processor(s) 384, memory 386, or WWANtransceiver(s) 350 of the BS 304. For example, the BS 304 may receivethe predefined list of subsets using the receiver(s) 352 and send themusing the transmitter(s) 354. The positioning sources within aparticular subset may be identified explicitly (e.g., by cellidentifier, TRP identifier, etc.) or implicitly (e.g., by an index intoa predefined list already known to the base station and UE. In someaspects, the positioning sources included in each subset are identifiedcompletely or differentially, explicitly or implicitly, by index orreference, or a combination thereof. In some aspects, the informationabout at least one of the subsets of positioning sources within theconsistency group comprises an error for the at least one subset.

As further shown in FIG. 11 , process 1100 may include receiving, fromthe UE, information about a consistency group and information about atleast one subset of positioning sources within the consistency group,the consistency group comprising a collection of positioning sourcesgrouped based on an expected value of at least one metric of a referencesignal from each positioning source, a measured value of the at leastone metric for the reference signal from each positioning source, and anerror threshold (block 1110). Means for performing the operation ofblock 1110 may include the processor(s) 384, memory 386, or WWANtransceiver(s) 350 of the BS 304. For example, the BS 304 may receivethe information about a consistency group and the information about atleast one subset of positioning sources within the consistency group,using the receiver(s) 352. In some aspects, the information about atleast one of the subsets of positioning sources within the consistencygroup includes information identifying the positioning sources includedin each subset. In some aspects, the information about at least one ofthe subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group includesan error associated with each subset, an error for each positioningsource included in the subset, the error for each positioning sourcewith respect to the error threshold, the error with respect to aconsensus value produced by the subset, or a combination thereof. Insome aspects, the information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group includes information onsubsets having an error that satisfies a threshold reporting value Tr.

As further shown in FIG. 11 , process 1100 may include sending, to thenetwork entity, the information about the consistency group and theinformation about the at least one subset of positioning sources withinthe consistency group (block 1112). Means for performing the operationof block 1112 may include the processor(s) 384, memory 386, or WWANtransceiver(s) 350 of the BS 304. For example, the BS 304 may send theinformation about the consistency group and the information about the atleast one subset of positioning sources within the consistency group,using the transmitter(s) 354. In some aspects, the information includesan average timing error for the subset. In some aspects, the at leastone metric comprises a time of arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA),a zenith of arrival (ZoA), a time difference of arrival (TDoA), a timeof departure (ToD), an angle of departure (AoD), a zenith of departure(ZoD), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signalreceived power (RSRP), a round-trip time (RTT), or a combinationthereof. In some aspects, the error threshold comprises one or moretime-angle thresholds. In some aspects, each member of the consistencygroup must satisfy at least one of the one or more time-anglethresholds. In some aspects, each member of the consistency group mustsatisfy all of the one or more time-angle thresholds.

Process 1100 may include additional implementations, such as any singleimplementation or any combination of implementations described belowand/or in connection with one or more other processes describedelsewhere herein. Although FIG. 11 shows example blocks of process 1100,in some implementations, process 1100 may include additional blocks,fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks thanthose depicted in FIG. 11 . Additionally, or alternatively, two or moreof the blocks of process 1100 may be performed in parallel.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an example process 1200 associated withprioritization of positioning-related reports in uplink, according toaspects of the disclosure. In some implementations, one or more processblocks of FIG. 12 may be performed by a network entity (e.g., locationserver 172). In some implementations, one or more process blocks of FIG.12 may be performed by another device or a group of devices separatefrom or including the network entity. Additionally, or alternatively,one or more process blocks of FIG. 12 may be performed by one or morecomponents of network entity 306, such as processor(s) 394, memory 396,network transceiver(s) 390, and positioning component(s) 398, any or allof which may be means for performing the operations of process 1200.

As shown in FIG. 12 , process 1200 may include sending, to a basestation, a set of positioning sources, each positioning sourcecomprising a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resourceset, a PRS frequency layer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or acombination thereof (block 1202). Means for performing the operation ofblock 1202 may include the processor(s) 394, memory 396, or networktransceiver(s) 390 of the network entity 306. For example, the networkentity 306 may send the set of positioning sources using the networktransceiver(s) 390.

In some aspects, as further shown in FIG. 12 , the network entity mayoptionally send a predefined list of subsets of positioning sources tothe base station (block 1204). Means for performing the operation ofoptional block 1204 may include the processor(s) 394, memory 396, ornetwork transceiver(s) 390 of the network entity 306. For example, thenetwork entity 306 may send the predefined list of subsets ofpositioning sources using the network transceiver(s) 390.

As further shown in FIG. 12 , process 1200 may include receiving, fromthe base station, information about a consistency group and informationabout at least one subset of positioning sources within the consistencygroup, the consistency group comprising a collection of positioningsources grouped based on an expected value of at least one metric of areference signal from each positioning source, a measured value of theat least one metric for the reference signal from each positioningsource, and an error threshold (block 1206). Means for performing theoperation of block 1206 may include the processor(s) 394, memory 396, ornetwork transceiver(s) 390 of the network entity 306. For example, thenetwork entity 306 may receive the information about a consistency groupand the information about at least one subset of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, using the network transceiver(s) 390. Insome aspects, the at least one metric comprises a time of arrival (ToA),an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), a time differenceof arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angle of departure(AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal time difference(RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), a round-trip time(RTT), or a combination thereof. In some aspects, the error thresholdcomprises a time-angle threshold. In some aspects, the error thresholdmay include a time-angle threshold. In some aspects, the time-anglethreshold may include a timing threshold, an angle threshold, a receivedpower threshold, or a combination thereof. In some aspects, the errorthreshold may include multiple time-angle thresholds. In some aspects,each member of the consistency group must satisfy at least one of themultiple time-angle thresholds. In some aspects, each member of theconsistency group must satisfy all of the multiple time-anglethresholds.

In some aspects, prior to receiving the information about theconsistency group and information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group, a predefined list ofsubsets of subsets of positioning sources within the consistency groupis sent to the base station.

Process 1200 may include additional implementations, such as any singleimplementation or any combination of implementations described belowand/or in connection with one or more other processes describedelsewhere herein. Although FIG. 12 shows example blocks of process 1200,in some implementations, process 1200 may include additional blocks,fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently arranged blocks thanthose depicted in FIG. 12 . Additionally, or alternatively, two or moreof the blocks of process 1200 may be performed in parallel.

In the detailed description above it can be seen that different featuresare grouped together in examples. This manner of disclosure should notbe understood as an intention that the example clauses have morefeatures than are explicitly mentioned in each clause. Rather, thevarious aspects of the disclosure may include fewer than all features ofan individual example clause disclosed. Therefore, the following clausesshould hereby be deemed to be incorporated in the description, whereineach clause by itself can stand as a separate example. Although eachdependent clause can refer in the clauses to a specific combination withone of the other clauses, the aspect(s) of that dependent clause are notlimited to the specific combination. It will be appreciated that otherexample clauses can also include a combination of the dependent clauseaspect(s) with the subject matter of any other dependent clause orindependent clause or a combination of any feature with other dependentand independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein expresslyinclude these combinations, unless it is explicitly expressed or can bereadily inferred that a specific combination is not intended (e.g.,contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an insulatorand a conductor). Furthermore, it is also intended that aspects of aclause can be included in any other independent clause, even if theclause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a userequipment (UE), comprising: identifying a set of positioning sources,each positioning source comprising a positioning reference signal (PRS)resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, atransmission/reception point (TRP), or a combination thereof;identifying, from the set of positioning sources, positioning sourcesthat form a consistency group, the consistency group comprising acollection of positioning sources grouped based on an expected value ofat least one metric of a reference signal from each positioning source,a measured value of the at least one metric for the reference signalfrom each positioning source, and an error threshold; identifying one ormore subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group, eachsubset having at least one metric error value; and reporting, to anetwork entity, information about the consistency group and informationabout at least one of the subsets of positioning sources within theconsistency group.

Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the at least one metriccomprises a time of arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenithof arrival (ZoA), a time difference of arrival (TDoA), a time ofdeparture (ToD), an angle of departure (AoD), a zenith of departure(ZoD), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signalreceived power (RSRP), a round-trip time (RTT), or a combinationthereof.

Clause 3. The method of any of clauses 1 to 2, wherein the errorthreshold comprises a time-angle threshold.

Clause 4. The method of any of clauses 1 to 3, wherein identifying theset of positioning sources comprises receiving the set of positioningsources from a base station.

Clause 5. The method of any of clauses 1 to 4, wherein identifying, fromthe set of positioning sources, positioning sources that form aconsistency group, comprises: performing a sampling operation a numberof times M>1, each sampling operation using a respective sampling subsetof the set of positioning sources to identify, as inliers, positioningsources not in the sampling subset that have an error less than theerror threshold; selecting a sampling subset according to a consensusmetric; identifying, as outliers, positioning sources not in theselected sampling subset that do not have an error less than the errorthreshold; identifying, as the consistency group, the set of positioningsources excluding the outliers; and computing a UE position based onvalues of one or more time-angle metrics from positioning sourcesselected from a combination of the selected sampling subset and theinliers identified using the sampling subset that produced a largestnumber of inliers.

Clause 6. The method of clause 5, wherein performing the samplingoperation comprises: selecting, from the set of positioning sources, asampling subset; estimating, using values for the one or more time-anglemetrics from the positioning sources in the sampling subset, a positionof the UE; computing expected values for the one or more time-anglemetrics from the estimated position of the UE to the positioning sourcesin set of positioning sources not in the sampling subset; determining anumber of inliers associated with the sampling subset, the inlierscomprising positioning sources in set of positioning sources not in thesampling subset that have an error less than the error threshold; anddetermining an error of the inliers.

Clause 7. The method of clause 6, wherein selecting the sampling subsetfrom the set of positioning sources comprises selecting positioningsources within the set of positioning sources to comprise the samplingsubset randomly, according to a pseudorandom sequence, or from apredefined list of subsets of positioning sources within the set ofpositioning sources.

Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 7, wherein reportinginformation about at least one of the subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group comprises identifying the positioningsources included in each subset.

Clause 9. The method of any of clauses 1 to 8, wherein reportinginformation about at least one of the subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group comprises reporting an error associatedwith each subset, reporting an error for each positioning sourceincluded in the subset, reporting the error for each positioning sourcewith respect to the error threshold, reporting the error with respect toa consensus value produced by the subset, or a combination thereof.

Clause 10. The method of any of clauses 1 to 9, wherein reportinginformation about at least one of the subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group comprises reporting subsets having an errorthat satisfies a threshold reporting value.

Clause 11. A method of wireless communication performed by a basestation, comprising: receiving, from a network entity, a set ofpositioning sources, each positioning source comprising a positioningreference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequencylayer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or a combination thereof;sending, to a user equipment (UE), the set of positioning sources;receiving, from the UE, information about a consistency group andinformation about at least one subset of positioning sources within theconsistency group, the consistency group comprising a collection ofpositioning sources grouped based on an expected value of at least onemetric of a reference signal from each positioning source, a measuredvalue of the at least one metric for the reference signal from eachpositioning source, and an error threshold; and sending, to the networkentity, the information about the consistency group and the informationabout the at least one subset of positioning sources within theconsistency group.

Clause 12. The method of clause 11, wherein the at least one metriccomprises a time of arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenithof arrival (ZoA), a time difference of arrival (TDoA), a time ofdeparture (ToD), an angle of departure (AoD), a zenith of departure(ZoD), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signalreceived power (RSRP), a round-trip time (RTT), or a combinationthereof.

Clause 13. The method of any of clauses 11 to 12, wherein the errorthreshold comprises one or more time-angle thresholds.

Clause 14. The method of clause 13, wherein each member of theconsistency group must satisfy at least one of the one or moretime-angle thresholds.

Clause 15. The method of any of clauses 13 to 14, wherein each member ofthe consistency group must satisfy all of the one or more time-anglethresholds.

Clause 16. The method of any of clauses 11 to 15, further comprising,prior to receiving information about a consistency group and informationabout at least one of the subsets of positioning sources within theconsistency group from the UE: receiving, from the network entity, apredefined list of subsets of positioning sources within the set ofpositioning sources; and sending, to the UE, the predefined list ofsubsets of positioning sources within the set of positioning sources.

Clause 17. The method of any of clauses 11 to 16, wherein theinformation about at least one of the subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group comprises an error for the at least onesubset.

Clause 18. The method of any of clauses 11 to 17, wherein receiving,from the UE, information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group comprises receivinginformation identifying the positioning sources included in each subset.

Clause 19. The method of any of clauses 11 to 18, wherein receiving,from the UE, information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group comprises receiving anerror associated with each subset, receiving an error for eachpositioning source included in the subset, receiving the error for eachpositioning source with respect to the error threshold, receiving theerror with respect to a consensus value produced by the subset, or acombination thereof.

Clause 20. The method of any of clauses 11 to 19, wherein receiving,from the UE, information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group comprises receivinginformation on subsets having an error that satisfies a thresholdreporting value Tr.

Clause 21. A method of wireless communication performed by a networkentity, comprising: sending, to a base station, a set of positioningsources, each positioning source comprising a positioning referencesignal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, atransmission/reception point (TRP), or a combination thereof; andreceiving, from the base station, information about a consistency groupand information about at least one subset of positioning sources withinthe consistency group, the consistency group comprising a collection ofpositioning sources grouped based on an expected value of at least onemetric of a reference signal from each positioning source, a measuredvalue of the at least one metric for the reference signal from eachpositioning source, and an error threshold.

Clause 22. The method of clause 21, wherein the at least one metriccomprises a time of arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenithof arrival (ZoA), a time difference of arrival (TDoA), a time ofdeparture (ToD), an angle of departure (AoD), a zenith of departure(ZoD), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signalreceived power (RSRP), a round-trip time (RTT), or a combinationthereof.

Clause 23. The method of any of clauses 21 to 22, wherein the errorthreshold comprises a time-angle threshold.

Clause 24. The method of any of clauses 21 to 23, further comprising,prior to receiving the information about the consistency group andinformation about at least one of the subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, sending, to the base station, a predefinedlist of subsets of subsets of positioning sources within the consistencygroup.

Clause 25. A user equipment (UE), comprising: a memory; at least onetransceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to thememory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processorconfigured to: identify a set of positioning sources, each positioningsource comprising a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRSresource set, a PRS frequency layer, a transmission/reception point(TRP), or a combination thereof; identify, from the set of positioningsources, positioning sources that form a consistency group, theconsistency group comprising a collection of positioning sources groupbased on an expected value of at least one metric of a reference signalfrom each positioning source, a measured value of the at least onemetric for the reference signal from each positioning source, and anerror threshold; identify one or more subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, each subset having at least one metricerror value; and report, to a network entity, information about theconsistency group and information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group.

Clause 26. The UE of clause 25, wherein the at least one metriccomprises a time of arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenithof arrival (ZoA), a time difference of arrival (TDoA), a time ofdeparture (ToD), an angle of departure (AoD), a zenith of departure(ZoD), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signalreceived power (RSRP), a round-trip time (RTT), or a combinationthereof.

Clause 27. The UE of any of clauses 25 to 26, wherein the errorthreshold comprises a time-angle threshold.

Clause 28. The UE of any of clauses 25 to 27, wherein, to identify theset of positioning sources, the at least one processor is configured toreceive the set of positioning sources from a base station.

Clause 29. The UE of any of clauses 25 to 28, wherein, to identify, fromthe set of positioning sources, positioning sources that form aconsistency group, the at least one processor is configured to: performa sampling operation a number of times M>1, each sampling operationusing a respective sampling subset of the set of positioning sources toidentify, as inliers, positioning sources not in the sampling subsetthat have an error less than the error threshold; select a samplingsubset according to a consensus metric; identify, as outliers,positioning sources not in the selected sampling subset that do not havean error less than the error threshold; identify, as the consistencygroup, the set of positioning sources excluding the outliers; andcompute a UE position based on values of one or more time-angle metricsfrom positioning sources selected from a combination of the selectedsampling subset and the inliers identified using the sampling subsetthat produced a largest number of inliers.

Clause 30. The UE of clause 29, wherein, to perform the samplingoperation, the at least one processor is configured to: select, from theset of positioning sources, a sampling subset; estimate, usingtime-angle metric values from the positioning sources in the samplingsubset, a position of the UE; compute an expected time-angle metricvalue from the estimated position of the UE to the positioning sourcesin set of positioning sources not in the sampling subset; determine anumber of inliers associated with the sampling subset, the inlierscomprising positioning sources in set of positioning sources not in thesampling subset that have an error less than the error threshold; anddetermine an error of the inliers.

Clause 31. The UE of clause 30, wherein, to select the sampling subsetfrom the set of positioning sources, the at least one processor isconfigured to select positioning sources within the set of positioningsources to comprise the sampling subset randomly, according to apseudorandom sequence, or from a predefined list of subsets ofpositioning sources within the set of positioning sources.

Clause 32. The UE of any of clauses 25 to 31, wherein, to reportinformation about at least one of the subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, the at least one processor is configuredto identify the positioning sources included in each subset.

Clause 33. The UE of any of clauses 25 to 32, wherein, to reportinformation about at least one of the subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, the at least one processor is configuredto report an error associated with each subset, reporting an error foreach positioning source included in the subset, reporting the error foreach positioning source with respect to the error threshold, reportingthe error with respect to a consensus value produced by the subset, or acombination thereof.

Clause 34. The UE of any of clauses 25 to 33, wherein, to reportinformation about at least one of the subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, the at least one processor is configuredto report subsets having an error that satisfies a threshold reportingvalue.

Clause 35. A base station (BS), comprising: a memory; at least onetransceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to thememory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processorconfigured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, from a networkentity, a set of positioning sources, each positioning source comprisinga positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRSfrequency layer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or a combinationthereof; send, via the at least one transceiver, to a user equipment(UE), the set of positioning sources; receive, via the at least onetransceiver, from the UE, information about a consistency group andinformation about at least one subset of positioning sources within theconsistency group, the consistency group comprising a collection ofpositioning sources grouped based on an expected value of at least onemetric of a reference signal from each positioning source, a measuredvalue of the at least one metric for the reference signal from eachpositioning source, and an error threshold; and send, via the at leastone transceiver, to the network entity, the information about theconsistency group and the information about the at least one subset ofpositioning sources within the consistency group.

Clause 36. The BS of clause 35, wherein the at least one metriccomprises a time of arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenithof arrival (ZoA), a time difference of arrival (TDoA), a time ofdeparture (ToD), an angle of departure (AoD), a zenith of departure(ZoD), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signalreceived power (RSRP), a round-trip time (RTT), or a combinationthereof.

Clause 37. The BS of any of clauses 35 to 36, wherein the errorthreshold comprises one or more time-angle thresholds.

Clause 38. The BS of clause 37, wherein each member of the consistencygroup must satisfy at least one of the one or more time-anglethresholds.

Clause 39. The BS of any of clauses 37 to 38, wherein each member of theconsistency group must satisfy all of the one or more time-anglethresholds.

Clause 40. The BS of any of clauses 35 to 39, wherein the at least oneprocessor is further configured to, prior to receiving information abouta consistency group and information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group from the UE: receive,via the at least one transceiver, from the network entity, a predefinedlist of subsets of positioning sources within the set of positioningsources; and send, via the at least one transceiver, to the UE, thepredefined list of subsets of positioning sources within the set ofpositioning sources.

Clause 41. The BS of any of clauses 35 to 40, wherein the informationabout at least one of the subsets of positioning sources within theconsistency group comprises an error for the at least one subset.

Clause 42. The BS of any of clauses 35 to 41, wherein, to receive, fromthe UE, information about at least one of the subsets of positioningsources within the consistency group, the at least one processor isconfigured to receive information identifying the positioning sourcesincluded in each subset.

Clause 43. The BS of any of clauses 35 to 42, wherein, to receive, fromthe UE, information about at least one of the subsets of positioningsources within the consistency group, the at least one processor isconfigured to receive an error associated with each subset, receiving anerror for each positioning source included in the subset, receiving theerror for each positioning source with respect to the error threshold,receiving the error with respect to a consensus value produced by thesubset, or a combination thereof.

Clause 44. The BS of any of clauses 35 to 43, wherein, to receive, fromthe UE, information about at least one of the subsets of positioningsources within the consistency group, the at least one processor isconfigured to receive information on subsets having an error thatsatisfies a threshold reporting value Tr.

Clause 45. A network entity, comprising: a memory; at least onetransceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to thememory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processorconfigured to: send, via the at least one transceiver, to a basestation, a set of positioning sources, each positioning sourcecomprising a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resourceset, a PRS frequency layer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or acombination thereof; and receive, via the at least one transceiver, fromthe base station, information about a consistency group and informationabout at least one subset of positioning sources within the consistencygroup, the consistency group comprising a collection of positioningsources grouped based on an expected value of at least one metric of areference signal from each positioning source, a measured value of theat least one metric for the reference signal from each positioningsource, and an error threshold.

Clause 46. The network entity of clause 45, wherein the at least onemetric comprises a time of arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), azenith of arrival (ZoA), a time difference of arrival (TDoA), a time ofdeparture (ToD), an angle of departure (AoD), a zenith of departure(ZoD), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signalreceived power (RSRP), a round-trip time (RTT), or a combinationthereof.

Clause 47. The network entity of any of clauses 45 to 46, wherein theerror threshold comprises a time-angle threshold.

Clause 48. The network entity of any of clauses 45 to 47, wherein the atleast one processor is further configured to, prior to receiving theinformation about the consistency group and information about at leastone of the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group,sending, to the base station, a predefined list of subsets of subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group.

Clause 49. A user equipment (UE), comprising: means for identifying aset of positioning sources, each positioning source comprising apositioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRSfrequency layer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or a combinationthereof; means for identifying, from the set of positioning sources,positioning sources that form a consistency group, the consistency groupcomprising a collection of positioning sources means for grouping basedon an expected value of at least one metric of a reference signal fromeach positioning source, a measured value of the at least one metric forthe reference signal from each positioning source, and an errorthreshold; means for identifying one or more subsets of positioningsources within the consistency group, each subset having at least onemetric error value; and means for reporting, to a network entity,information about the consistency group and information about at leastone of the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group.

Clause 50. A base station (BS), comprising: means for receiving, from anetwork entity, a set of positioning sources, each positioning sourcecomprising a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resourceset, a PRS frequency layer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or acombination thereof; means for sending, to a user equipment (UE), theset of positioning sources; means for receiving, from the UE,information about a consistency group and information about at least onesubset of positioning sources within the consistency group, theconsistency group comprising a collection of positioning sources groupedbased on an expected value of at least one metric of a reference signalfrom each positioning source, a measured value of the at least onemetric for the reference signal from each positioning source, and anerror threshold; and means for sending, to the network entity, theinformation about the consistency group and the information about the atleast one subset of positioning sources within the consistency group.

Clause 51. A network entity, comprising: means for sending, to a basestation, a set of positioning sources, each positioning sourcecomprising a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resourceset, a PRS frequency layer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or acombination thereof; and means for receiving, from the base station,information about a consistency group and information about at least onesubset of positioning sources within the consistency group, theconsistency group comprising a collection of positioning sources groupedbased on an expected value of at least one metric of a reference signalfrom each positioning source, a measured value of the at least onemetric for the reference signal from each positioning source, and anerror threshold.

Clause 52. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment(UE), cause the UE to: identify a set of positioning sources, eachpositioning source comprising a positioning reference signal (PRS)resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, atransmission/reception point (TRP), or a combination thereof; identify,from the set of positioning sources, positioning sources that form aconsistency group, the consistency group comprising a collection ofpositioning sources group based on an expected value of at least onemetric of a reference signal from each positioning source, a measuredvalue of the at least one metric for the reference signal from eachpositioning source, and an error threshold; identify one or more subsetsof positioning sources within the consistency group, each subset havingat least one metric error value; and report, to a network entity,information about the consistency group and information about at leastone of the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group.

Clause 53. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a base station(BS), cause the BS to: receive, from a network entity, a set ofpositioning sources, each positioning source comprising a positioningreference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequencylayer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or a combination thereof;send, to a user equipment (UE), the set of positioning sources; receive,from the UE, information about a consistency group and information aboutat least one subset of positioning sources within the consistency group,the consistency group comprising a collection of positioning sourcesgrouped based on an expected value of at least one metric of a referencesignal from each positioning source, a measured value of the at leastone metric for the reference signal from each positioning source, and anerror threshold; and send, to the network entity, the information aboutthe consistency group and the information about the at least one subsetof positioning sources within the consistency group.

Clause 54. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a networkentity, cause the network entity to: send, to a base station, a set ofpositioning sources, each positioning source comprising a positioningreference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequencylayer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or a combination thereof;and receive, from the base station, information about a consistencygroup and information about at least one subset of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, the consistency group comprising acollection of positioning sources grouped based on an expected value ofat least one metric of a reference signal from each positioning source,a measured value of the at least one metric for the reference signalfrom each positioning source, and an error threshold.

Clause 49. An apparatus comprising a memory, a transceiver, and aprocessor communicatively coupled to the memory and the transceiver, thememory, the transceiver, and the processor configured to perform amethod according to any of clauses 1 to 24.

Clause 50. An apparatus comprising means for performing a methodaccording to any of clauses 1 to 24.

Clause 51. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions, the computer-executable comprising atleast one instruction for causing a computer or processor to perform amethod according to any of clauses 1 to 24.

Additional may aspects include, but are not limited to, the following:

In an aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a userequipment (UE) includes identifying a set of positioning sources, eachpositioning source comprising a positioning reference signal (PRS)resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, atransmission/reception point (TRP), or combinations thereof identifying,from the set of positioning sources, positioning sources that form aconsistency group, the consistency group comprising a collection ofpositioning sources grouped based on an estimated metric of a referencesignal of the positioning source, the measured metric for thepositioning source, and an error threshold; identifying one or moresubsets of positioning sources within the consistency group, each subsethaving an error value; and reporting, to a network entity, informationabout the consistency group and information about at least one of thesubsets of positioning sources within the consistency group.

In some aspects, the time-angle metric comprises a time of arrival(ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), a timedifference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angle ofdeparture (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or combinations thereof.

In some aspects, the error threshold comprises a time-angle threshold.

In some aspects, the time-angle threshold comprises a timing threshold,an angle threshold, a received power threshold, or combinations thereof.

In some aspects, the error threshold comprises a plurality of time-anglethresholds.

In some aspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy atleast one of the plurality of time-angle thresholds.

In some aspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy allof the plurality of time-angle thresholds.

In some aspects, identifying the set of positioning sources comprisesreceiving the set of positioning sources from a base station.

In some aspects, identifying, from the set of positioning sources,positioning sources that form a consistency group, comprises: performinga sampling and consensus operation a number of times M>1, each samplingand consensus operation using a different sampling subset of thepositioning sources to identify, as inliers, positioning sources not inthe sampling subset that have an error less than the threshold error;selecting a sampling subset that produced a largest number of inliers;identifying, as outliers, positioning sources not in the sampling subsetthat produced the largest number of inliers that do not have an errorless than the threshold error; identifying, as the consistency group,the set of positioning sources excluding the outliers; and computing aUE position based on values of one or more time-angle metrics frompositioning sources selected from a combination of the sampling subsetthat produced the largest number of inliers and the inliers identifiedusing the sampling subset that produced the largest number of inliers.

In some aspects, performing the sampling and consensus operationcomprises: selecting, from the set of positioning sources, a samplingsubset; estimating, using time-angle metric values from the positioningsources in the sampling subset, a position of the UE; computing anexpected time-angle metric value from the estimated position of the UEto the positioning sources in set of positioning sources not in thesampling subset; determining a number of inliers associated with thesampling subset, the inliers comprising positioning sources in set ofpositioning sources not in the sampling subset that have an error lessthan the threshold error; and determining, an average error of theinliers.

In some aspects, selecting the sampling subset from the set ofpositioning sources comprises selecting positioning sources within theset of positioning sources to comprise the sampling subset randomly.

In some aspects, selecting the sampling subset from the set ofpositioning sources comprises selecting positioning sources within theset of positioning sources to comprise the sampling subset according toa pseudorandom sequence.

In some aspects, selecting the sampling subset from the set ofpositioning sources comprises selecting a subset from a predefined listof subsets of positioning sources within the set of positioning sources.

In some aspects, every sampling subset is a same size.

In some aspects, at least one sampling subset is a different size fromanother sampling sub set.

In some aspects, the method includes storing the sampling subset, thenumber of inliers associated with the sampling subset, and the averageerror of the inliers.

In some aspects, reporting information about at least one of the subsetsof positioning sources within the consistency group comprisesidentifying the positioning sources included in each subset.

In some aspects, the positioning sources included in each subset areidentified completely or differentially, explicitly or implicitly, byindex or reference, or combinations thereof.

In some aspects, reporting information about at least one of the subsetsof positioning sources within the consistency group comprises reportingan error associated with each sub set.

In some aspects, reporting information about at least one of the subsetsof positioning sources within the consistency group comprises reportingan error for each positioning source included in the subset.

In some aspects, reporting an error for each positioning source includedin the subset comprises reporting the error for each positioning sourcewith respect to the error threshold, with respect to a consensus valueproduced by the subset, or combinations thereof.

In some aspects, reporting information about at least one of the subsetsof positioning sources within the consistency group comprises reportingsubsets having an error that satisfies a threshold reporting value.

In an aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a basestation includes receiving, from a network entity, a set of positioningsources, each positioning source comprising a positioning referencesignal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, atransmission/reception point (TRP), or combinations thereof; sending, toa user equipment (UE), the set of positioning sources; receiving, fromthe UE, information about a consistency group and information about atleast one subset of positioning sources within the consistency group,the consistency group comprising a collection of positioning sourcesgrouped based on an estimated metric of a reference signal of thepositioning source, the measured metric for the positioning source, andan error threshold; and sending, to the network entity, the informationabout the consistency group and the information about the at least onesubset of positioning sources within the consistency group.

In some aspects, the time-angle metric comprises a time of arrival(ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), a timedifference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angle ofdeparture (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof.

In some aspects, the error threshold comprises a time-angle threshold.

In some aspects, the time-angle threshold comprises a timing threshold,an angle threshold, a received power threshold, or a combinationthereof.

In some aspects, the error threshold comprises a plurality of time-anglethresholds.

In some aspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy atleast one of the plurality of time-angle thresholds.

In some aspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy allof the plurality of time-angle thresholds.

In some aspects, the method includes receiving, from the network entity,a predefined list of subsets of positioning sources within the set ofpositioning sources; and sending, to the UE, the predefined list ofsubsets.

In some aspects, the network entity comprises a location server.

In some aspects, the location server comprises a location managementfunction (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform(SLP).

In some aspects, the base station comprises a gNodeB (gNB).

In some aspects, the information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group comprises an averageerror for the at least one subset.

In some aspects, receiving, from the UE, information about at least oneof the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency groupcomprises receiving information identifying the positioning sourcesincluded in each subset.

In some aspects, the positioning sources included in each subset areidentified completely or differentially, explicitly or implicitly, byindex or reference, or combinations thereof.

In some aspects, receiving, from the UE, information about at least oneof the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency groupcomprises receiving an error associated with each subset.

In some aspects, receiving, from the UE, information about at least oneof the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency groupcomprises receiving information identifying an error for eachpositioning source included in the subset.

In some aspects, receiving, from the UE, information about at least oneof the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency groupcomprises receiving information identifying the error for eachpositioning source with respect to the error threshold, with respect toa consensus value produced by the subset, or combinations thereof.

In some aspects, receiving, from the UE, information about at least oneof the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency groupcomprises receiving information on subsets having an error thatsatisfies a threshold reporting value Tr.

In an aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a networkentity includes sending, to a base station, a set of positioningsources, each positioning source comprising a positioning referencesignal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, atransmission/reception point (TRP), or combinations thereof; andreceiving, from the base station, information about a consistency groupand information about at least one subset of positioning sources withinthe consistency group, the consistency group comprising a collection ofpositioning sources grouped based on an estimated metric of a referencesignal of the positioning source, the measured metric for thepositioning source, and an error threshold.

In some aspects, the time-angle metric comprises a time of arrival(ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), a timedifference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angle ofdeparture (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof.

In some aspects, the error threshold comprises a time-angle threshold.

In some aspects, the time-angle threshold comprises a timing threshold,an angle threshold, a received power threshold, or combinations thereof.

In some aspects, the error threshold comprises a plurality of time-anglethresholds.

In some aspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy atleast one of the plurality of time-angle thresholds.

In some aspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy allof the plurality of time-angle thresholds.

In some aspects, the method further comprises, prior to receiving theinformation about the consistency group and information about at leastone of the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group,sending, to the base station, a predefined list of subsets of subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group.

In some aspects, the network entity comprises a location server.

In some aspects, the location server comprises a location managementfunction (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform(SLP).

In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes a memory; at least onetransceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to thememory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processorconfigured to: identify a set of positioning sources, each positioningsource comprising a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRSresource set, a PRS frequency layer, a transmission/reception point(TRP), or combinations thereof; identify, from the set of positioningsources, positioning sources that form a consistency group, theconsistency group comprising a collection of positioning sources groupedbased on an estimated metric of a reference signal of the positioningsource, the measured metric for the positioning source, and an errorthreshold; identify one or more subsets of positioning sources withinthe consistency group, each subset having an error value; and report, toa network entity, information about the consistency group andinformation about at least one of the subsets.

In some aspects, the time-angle metric comprises a time of arrival(ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), a timedifference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angle ofdeparture (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof.

In some aspects, the error threshold comprises a time-angle threshold.

In some aspects, the time-angle threshold comprises a timing threshold,an angle threshold, a received power threshold, or a combinationthereof.

In some aspects, the error threshold comprises a plurality of time-anglethresholds.

In some aspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy atleast one of the plurality of time-angle thresholds.

In some aspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy allof the plurality of time-angle thresholds.

In some aspects, identifying the set of positioning sources comprisesreceiving the set of positioning sources from a base station.

In some aspects, identifying, from the set of positioning sources,positioning sources that form a consistency group, comprises: performinga sampling and consensus operation a number of times M>1, each samplingand consensus operation using a different sampling subset of thepositioning sources in the set of positioning sources to identify, asinliers, positioning sources not in the sampling subset that have anerror less than the error threshold; selecting a sampling subset thatproduced a largest number of inliers; identifying, as outliers,positioning sources not in the sampling subset that produced the largestnumber of inliers not having an error less than the error threshold;identifying, as the consistency group, set of positioning sourcesexcluding the outliers; and computing a UE position based on values ofone or more time-angle metrics from positioning sources selected from acombination of the sampling subset that produced the largest number ofinliers and the inliers identified using the sampling subset thatproduced the largest number of inliers.

In some aspects, performing the sampling and consensus operationcomprises: selecting, from the set of positioning sources, a samplingsubset; estimating, using time-angle metric values from the positioningsources in the sampling subset, a position of the UE; computing anexpected time-angle metric value from the estimated position of the UEto the positioning sources in set of positioning sources not in thesampling subset; determining Li, the number of inliers associated withthe sampling subset, the inliers comprising positioning sources in setof positioning sources not in sampling subset that have an error lessthan the error threshold; and determining a timing error of the inliers.

In some aspects, selecting, from the set of positioning sources, asampling subset comprises randomly selecting positioning sources withinset of positioning sources to comprise the sampling subset.

In some aspects, selecting, from the set of positioning sources, asampling subset comprises selecting positioning sources within set ofpositioning sources to comprise the sampling subset according to apseudorandom sequence.

In some aspects, selecting, from the set of positioning sources, asampling subset comprises selecting the sampling subset from apredefined list of subsets of positioning sources within set ofpositioning sources.

In some aspects, every sampling subset is a same size.

In some aspects, at least one sampling subset is a different size fromanother sampling sub set.

In some aspects, the at least one processor is configured to store thesampling subset, Li, and the timing error of the inliers.

In some aspects, reporting information about at least one of the subsetscomprises identifying the positioning sources included in each subset.

In some aspects, the positioning sources included in each subset areidentified completely or differentially, explicitly or implicitly, byindex or reference, or combinations thereof.

In some aspects, reporting information about the at least one of thesubsets comprises reporting an error associated with each subset.

In some aspects, reporting information about at least one of the subsetscomprises reporting an error for each positioning source included in thesubset.

In some aspects, reporting an error for each positioning source includedin the subset comprises reporting the error for each positioning sourcewith respect to the error threshold, with respect to a consensus valueproduced by the subset, or combinations thereof.

In some aspects, reporting information about at least one of the subsetscomprises reporting subsets having an error that satisfies a thresholdreporting value Tr.

In an aspect, a base station includes a memory; at least onetransceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to thememory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processorconfigured to: receive, from a network entity, a set of positioningsources, each positioning source comprising a positioning referencesignal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, atransmission/reception point (TRP), or combinations thereof; cause theat least one transceiver to send, to a user equipment (UE), the set ofpositioning sources; receive, from the UE, information about aconsistency group and information about at least one subset ofpositioning sources within the consistency group, the consistency groupcomprising a collection of positioning sources grouped based on anestimated metric of a reference signal of the positioning source, themeasured metric for the positioning source, and an error threshold; andcause the at least one transceiver to send, to the network entity, theinformation about the consistency group and the information about the atleast one subset of positioning sources within the consistency group.

In some aspects, the time-angle metric comprises a time of arrival(ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), a timedifference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angle ofdeparture (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof.

In some aspects, the error threshold comprises a time-angle threshold.

In some aspects, the time-angle threshold comprises a timing threshold,an angle threshold, a received power threshold, or a combinationthereof.

In some aspects, the error threshold comprises a plurality of time-anglethresholds.

In some aspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy atleast one of the plurality of time-angle thresholds.

In some aspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy allof the plurality of time-angle thresholds.

In some aspects, the at least one processor is further configured to,prior to receiving information about a consistency group and informationabout at least one of the subsets of positioning sources within theconsistency group from the UE: receive, from the network entity, apredefined list of subsets of positioning sources within the set ofpositioning sources; and cause the at least one transceiver to send, tothe UE, the predefined list of subsets.

In some aspects, the network entity comprises a location server.

In some aspects, the location server comprises a location managementfunction (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform(SLP).

In some aspects, the base station comprises a gNodeB (gNB).

In some aspects, the information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group comprises an averageerror for the at least one subset.

In some aspects, receiving, from the UE, information about at least oneof the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency groupcomprises receiving information identifying the positioning sourcesincluded in each subset.

In some aspects, the positioning sources included in each subset areidentified completely or differentially, explicitly or implicitly, byindex or reference, or combinations thereof.

In some aspects, receiving, from the UE, information about at least oneof the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency groupcomprises receiving an error associated with each subset.

In some aspects, receiving, from the UE, information about at least oneof the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency groupcomprises receiving information identifying an error for eachpositioning source included in the subset.

In some aspects, receiving, from the UE, information about at least oneof the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency groupcomprises receiving information identifying the error for eachpositioning source with respect to the error threshold, with respect toa consensus value produced by the subset, or combinations thereof.

In some aspects, receiving, from the UE, information about at least oneof the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency groupcomprises receiving information on subsets having an error thatsatisfies a threshold reporting value Tr.

In an aspect, a network entity includes a memory; at least one networkinterface; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to thememory and the at least one network interface, the at least oneprocessor configured to: cause the at least one network interface tosend, to a base station, a set of positioning sources, each positioningsource comprising a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRSresource set, a PRS frequency layer, a transmission/reception point(TRP), or combinations thereof; and receive, from the base station,information about a consistency group and information about at least onesubset of positioning sources within the consistency group, theconsistency group comprising a collection of positioning sources groupedbased on an estimated metric of a reference signal of the positioningsource, the measured metric for the positioning source, and an errorthreshold.

In some aspects, the time-angle metric comprises a time of arrival(ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), a timedifference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angle ofdeparture (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof.

In some aspects, the error threshold comprises a time-angle threshold.

In some aspects, the time-angle threshold comprises a timing threshold,an angle threshold, a received power threshold, or a combinationthereof.

In some aspects, the error threshold comprises a plurality of time-anglethresholds.

In some aspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy atleast one of the plurality of time-angle thresholds.

In some aspects, each member of the consistency group must satisfy allof the plurality of time-angle thresholds.

In some aspects, the at least one processor is further configured to,prior to receiving the information about the consistency group andinformation about at least one subset of positioning sources within theconsistency group: cause the at least one network interface to send, tothe base station, a predefined list of subsets of subsets of positioningsources within the consistency group.

In some aspects, the network entity comprises a location server.

In some aspects, the location server comprises a location managementfunction (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform(SLP).

In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes means for identifying a setof positioning sources, each positioning source comprising a positioningreference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequencylayer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or combinations thereof;means for identifying, from the set of positioning sources, positioningsources that form a consistency group, the consistency group comprisinga collection of positioning sources grouped based on an estimated metricof a reference signal of the positioning source, the measured metric forthe positioning source, and an error threshold; means for identifyingone or more subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group,each subset having an error value; and means for reporting, to a networkentity, information about the consistency group and information about atleast one of the subsets, wherein the time-angle metric comprises a timeof arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA),a time difference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angleof departure (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof, and wherein the errorthreshold comprises a timing threshold, an angle threshold, a receivedpower threshold, or a combination thereof.

In an aspect, a base station includes means for receiving, from anetwork entity, a set of positioning sources, each positioning sourcecomprising a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resourceset, a PRS frequency layer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), orcombinations thereof; means for sending, to a user equipment (UE), theset of positioning sources; means for receiving, from the UE,information about a consistency group and information about at least onesubset of positioning sources within the consistency group, theconsistency group comprising a collection of positioning sources groupedbased on an estimated metric of a reference signal of the positioningsource, the measured metric for the positioning source, and an errorthreshold; and means for sending, to the network entity, the informationabout the consistency group and the information about at least onesubset of positioning sources within the consistency group, wherein thetime-angle metric comprises a time of arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival(AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), a time difference of arrival (TDoA), atime of departure (ToD), an angle of departure (AoD), a zenith ofdeparture (ZoD), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a referencesignal received power (RSRP), a round-trip time (RTT), or a combinationthereof, and wherein the error threshold comprises a timing threshold,an angle threshold, a received power threshold, or a combinationthereof.

In an aspect, a location server includes means for sending, to a basestation, a set of positioning sources, each positioning sourcecomprising a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resourceset, a PRS frequency layer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), orcombinations thereof; and means for receiving, from the base station,information about a consistency group and information about at least onesubset of positioning sources within the consistency group, theconsistency group comprising a collection of positioning sources groupedbased on an estimated metric of a reference signal of the positioningsource, the measured metric for the positioning source, and an errorthreshold, wherein the time-angle metric comprises a time of arrival(ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), a timedifference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angle ofdeparture (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof, and wherein the errorthreshold comprises a timing threshold, an angle threshold, a receivedpower threshold, or a combination thereof.

In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions includes at least one instructioninstructing a user equipment (UE) to identify a set of positioningsources, each positioning source comprising a positioning referencesignal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, atransmission/reception point (TRP), or combinations thereof; at leastone instruction instructing the UE to identify, from the set ofpositioning sources, positioning sources that form a consistency group,the consistency group comprising a collection of positioning sourcesgrouped based on an estimated metric of a reference signal of thepositioning source, the measured metric for the positioning source, andan error threshold; at least one instruction instructing the UE toidentify one or more subsets of positioning sources within theconsistency group, each subset having an error value; and at least oneinstruction instructing the UE to report, to a network entity,information about the consistency group and information about at leastone of the subsets, wherein the time-angle metric comprises a time ofarrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), atime difference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angleof departure (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof, and wherein the errorthreshold comprises a timing threshold, an angle threshold, a receivedpower threshold, or a combination thereof.

In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions includes at least one instructioninstructing a base station to receive, from a network entity, a set ofpositioning sources, each positioning source comprising a positioningreference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequencylayer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or combinations thereof; atleast one instruction instructing a base station to send, to a userequipment (UE), the set of positioning sources; at least one instructioninstructing the base station to receive, from the UE, information abouta consistency group and information about at least one subset ofpositioning sources within the consistency group, the consistency groupcomprising a collection of positioning sources grouped based on anestimated metric of a reference signal of the positioning source, themeasured metric for the positioning source, and an error threshold; andat least one instruction instructing the base station to send, to thenetwork entity, the information about the consistency group and theinformation about the at least one subset of positioning sources withinthe consistency group, wherein the time-angle metric comprises a time ofarrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), atime difference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angleof departure (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof, and wherein the errorthreshold comprises a timing threshold, an angle threshold, a receivedpower threshold, or a combination thereof.

In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storingcomputer-executable instructions includes at least one instructioninstructing a location server to send, to a base station, a set ofpositioning sources, each positioning source comprising a positioningreference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequencylayer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or combinations thereof;and at least one instruction instructing the location server receive,from the base station, information about a consistency group andinformation about at least one subset of positioning sources within theconsistency group, the consistency group comprising a collection ofpositioning sources grouped based on an estimated metric of a referencesignal of the positioning source, the measured metric for thepositioning source, and an error threshold, wherein the time-anglemetric comprises a time of arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), azenith of arrival (ZoA), a time difference of arrival (TDoA), a time ofdeparture (ToD), an angle of departure (AoD), a zenith of departure(ZoD), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signalreceived power (RSRP), a round-trip time (RTT), or a combinationthereof, and wherein the error threshold comprises a timing threshold,an angle threshold, a received power threshold, or a combinationthereof.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that information and signalsmay be represented using any of a variety of different technologies andtechniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information,signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout theabove description may be represented by voltages, currents,electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields orparticles, or any combination thereof.

Further, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the variousillustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm stepsdescribed in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may beimplemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinationsof both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware andsoftware, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits,and steps have been described above generally in terms of theirfunctionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware orsoftware depends upon the particular application and design constraintsimposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement thedescribed functionality in varying ways for each particular application,but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing adeparture from the scope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits describedin connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented orperformed with a general purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA, orother programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic,discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed toperform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor maybe a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be anyconventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. Aprocessor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices,e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality ofmicroprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSPcore, or any other such configuration.

The methods, sequences and/or algorithms described in connection withthe aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in asoftware module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two.A software module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flashmemory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known inthe art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor suchthat the processor can read information from, and write information to,the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may beintegral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium mayreside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). Inthe alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside asdiscrete components in a user terminal.

In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described may beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof.If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on ortransmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computerstorage media and communication media including any medium thatfacilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Astorage media may be any available media that can be accessed by acomputer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readablemedia can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical diskstorage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or anyother medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code inthe form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed bya computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readablemedium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website,server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable,twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologiessuch as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiberoptic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such asinfrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium.Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc,optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray discwhere disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproducedata optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also beincluded within the scope of computer-readable media.

While the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative aspects of thedisclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modificationscould be made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosureas defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and/or actionsof the method claims in accordance with the aspects of the disclosuredescribed herein need not be performed in any particular order.Furthermore, although elements of the disclosure may be described orclaimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation tothe singular is explicitly stated.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of wireless communication performed by auser equipment (UE), comprising: identifying a set of positioningsources, each positioning source comprising a positioning referencesignal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, atransmission/reception point (TRP), or a combination thereof;identifying, from the set of positioning sources, positioning sourcesthat form a consistency group, the consistency group comprising acollection of positioning sources grouped based on an expected value ofat least one metric of a reference signal from each positioning source,a measured value of the at least one metric for the reference signalfrom each positioning source, and an error threshold; identifying one ormore subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group, eachsubset having at least one metric error value; and reporting, to anetwork entity, information about the consistency group and informationabout at least one of the subsets of positioning sources within theconsistency group; and wherein identifying, from the set of positioningsources, positioning sources that form a consistency group, comprises:performing a sampling operation a number of times M>1, each samplingoperation using a respective sampling subset of the set of positioningsources to identify, as inliers, positioning sources not in therespective sampling subset that have an error less than the errorthreshold; selecting a sampling subset according to a consensus metric;identifying, as outliers, positioning sources not in the selectedsampling subset that do not have an error less than the error threshold;identifying, as the consistency group, the set of positioning sourcesexcluding the outliers; and computing a UE position based on values ofone or more time-angle metrics from positioning sources selected from acombination of the selected sampling subset and the inliers identifiedusing the sampling subset that produced a largest number of inliers. 2.The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one metric comprises a timeof arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA),a time difference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angleof departure (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein the error threshold comprises a time-angle threshold.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of positioning sourcescomprises receiving the set of positioning sources from a base station.5. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the sampling operationcomprises: selecting, from the set of positioning sources, a samplingsubset; estimating, using values for the one or more time-angle metricsfrom the positioning sources in the sampling subset, a position of theUE; computing expected values for the one or more time-angle metricsfrom the estimated position of the UE to the positioning sources in theset of positioning sources not in the sampling subset; determining anumber of inliers associated with the sampling subset, the inlierscomprising positioning sources in set of positioning sources not in thesampling subset that have an error less than the error threshold; anddetermining an error of the inliers.
 6. The method of claim 5, whereinselecting the sampling subset from the set of positioning sourcescomprises selecting positioning sources within the set of positioningsources to comprise the sampling subset randomly, according to apseudorandom sequence, or from a predefined list of subsets ofpositioning sources within the set of positioning sources.
 7. The methodof claim 1, wherein reporting information about at least one of thesubsets of positioning sources within the consistency group comprisesidentifying the positioning sources included in each subset.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein reporting information about at least one ofthe subsets of positioning sources within the consistency groupcomprises reporting an error associated with each subset, reporting anerror for each positioning source included in the subset, reporting theerror for each positioning source with respect to the error threshold,reporting the error with respect to a consensus value produced by thesubset, reporting subsets having an error that satisfies a thresholdreporting value, or a combination thereof.
 9. A method of wirelesscommunication performed by a base station, comprising: receiving, from anetwork entity, a set of positioning sources, each positioning sourcecomprising a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resourceset, a PRS frequency layer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or acombination thereof; sending, to a user equipment (UE), the set ofpositioning sources; receiving, from the UE, information about aconsistency group and information about at least one subset ofpositioning sources within the consistency group, the consistency groupcomprising a collection of positioning sources grouped based on anexpected value of at least one metric of a reference signal from eachpositioning source, a measured value of the at least one metric for thereference signal from each positioning source, and an error threshold;and sending, to the network entity, the information about theconsistency group and the information about the at least one subset ofpositioning sources within the consistency group; and wherein the UEobtained the information by identifying, from the set of positioningsources, positioning sources that form a consistency group, comprises:performing a sampling operation a number of times M>1, each samplingoperation using a respective sampling subset of the set of positioningsources to identify, as inliers, positioning sources not in therespective sampling subset that have an error less than the errorthreshold; selecting a sampling subset according to a consensus metric;identifying, as outliers, positioning sources not in the selectedsampling subset that do not have an error less than the error threshold;identifying, as the consistency group, the set of positioning sourcesexcluding the outliers; and computing a UE position based on values ofone or more time-angle metrics from positioning sources selected from acombination of the selected sampling subset and the inliers identifiedusing the sampling subset that produced a largest number of inliers. 10.The method of claim 9, wherein the at least one metric comprises a timeof arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA),a time difference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angleof departure (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof.
 11. The method of claim9, wherein the error threshold comprises one or more time-anglethresholds.
 12. The method of claim 9, further comprising, prior toreceiving information about a consistency group and information about atleast one of the subsets of positioning sources within the consistencygroup from the UE: receiving, from the network entity, a predefined listof subsets of positioning sources within the set of positioning sources;and sending, to the UE, the predefined list of subsets of positioningsources within the set of positioning sources.
 13. The method of claim9, wherein the information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group comprises an error forthe at least one subset.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving,from the UE, information about at least one of the subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group comprises receivinginformation identifying the positioning sources included in each subset.15. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving, from the UE, informationabout at least one of the subsets of positioning sources within theconsistency group comprises receiving an error associated with eachsubset, receiving an error for each positioning source included in thesubset, receiving the error for each positioning source with respect tothe error threshold, receiving the error with respect to a consensusvalue produced by the subset, receiving information on subsets having anerror that satisfies a threshold reporting value Tr, or a combinationthereof.
 16. A method of wireless communication performed by a networkentity, comprising: sending, to a base station, a set of positioningsources, each positioning source comprising a positioning referencesignal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequency layer, atransmission/reception point (TRP), or a combination thereof; andreceiving, from the base station, information about a consistency groupand information about at least one subset of positioning sources withinthe consistency group, the consistency group comprising a collection ofpositioning sources grouped based on an expected value of at least onemetric of a reference signal from each positioning source, a measuredvalue of the at least one metric for the reference signal from eachpositioning source, and an error threshold; and wherein the UE obtainedthe information by identifying, from the set of positioning sources,positioning sources that form a consistency group, comprises: performinga sampling operation a number of times M>1, each sampling operationusing a respective sampling subset of the set of positioning sources toidentify, as inliers, positioning sources not in the respective samplingsubset that have an error less than the error threshold; selecting asampling subset according to a consensus metric; identifying, asoutliers, positioning sources not in the selected sampling subset thatdo not have an error less than the error threshold; identifying, as theconsistency group, the set of positioning sources excluding theoutliers; and computing a UE position based on values of one or moretime-angle metrics from positioning sources selected from a combinationof the selected sampling subset and the inliers identified using thesampling subset that produced a largest number of inliers.
 17. Themethod of claim 16, wherein the at least one metric comprises a time ofarrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), a zenith of arrival (ZoA), atime difference of arrival (TDoA), a time of departure (ToD), an angleof departure (AoD), a zenith of departure (ZoD), a reference signal timedifference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), around-trip time (RTT), or a combination thereof.
 18. The method of claim16, wherein the error threshold comprises a time-angle threshold. 19.The method of claim 16, further comprising, prior to receiving theinformation about the consistency group and information about at leastone of the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group,sending, to the base station, a predefined list of subsets of subsets ofpositioning sources within the consistency group.
 20. A user equipment(UE), comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least oneprocessor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least onetransceiver, the at least one processor configured to: identify a set ofpositioning sources, each positioning source comprising a positioningreference signal (PRS) resource, a PRS resource set, a PRS frequencylayer, a transmission/reception point (TRP), or a combination thereof;identify, from the set of positioning sources, positioning sources thatform a consistency group, the consistency group comprising a collectionof positioning sources group based on an expected value of at least onemetric of a reference signal from each positioning source, a measuredvalue of the at least one metric for the reference signal from eachpositioning source, and an error threshold; identify one or more subsetsof positioning sources within the consistency group, each subset havingat least one metric error value; and report, to a network entity,information about the consistency group and information about at leastone of the subsets of positioning sources within the consistency group;and wherein, to identify, from the set of positioning sources,positioning sources that form a consistency group, the at least oneprocessor is configured to: perform a sampling operation a number oftimes M>1, each sampling operation using a respective sampling subset ofthe set of positioning sources to identify, as inliers, positioningsources not in the respective sampling subset that have an error lessthan the error threshold; select a sampling subset according to aconsensus metric; identify, as outliers, positioning sources not in theselected sampling subset that do not have an error less than the errorthreshold; identify, as the consistency group, the set of positioningsources excluding the outliers; and compute a UE position based onvalues of one or more time-angle metrics from positioning sourcesselected from a combination of the selected sampling subset and theinliers identified using the sampling subset that produced a largestnumber of inliers.
 21. The UE of claim 20, wherein the at least onemetric comprises a time of arrival (ToA), an angle of arrival (AoA), azenith of arrival (ZoA), a time difference of arrival (TDoA), a time ofdeparture (ToD), an angle of departure (AoD), a zenith of departure(ZoD), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signalreceived power (RSRP), a round-trip time (RTT), or a combinationthereof.
 22. The UE of claim 20, wherein the error threshold comprises atime-angle threshold.
 23. The UE of claim 20, wherein, to identify theset of positioning sources, the at least one processor is configured toreceive the set of positioning sources from a base station.
 24. The UEof claim 20, wherein, to perform the sampling operation, the at leastone processor is configured to: select, from the set of positioningsources, a sampling subset; estimate, using values for the one or moretime-angle metrics from the positioning sources in the sampling subset,a position of the UE; compute expected values for the one or moretime-angle metrics from the estimated position of the UE to thepositioning sources in set of positioning sources not in the samplingsubset; determine a number of inliers associated with the samplingsubset, the inliers comprising positioning sources in set of positioningsources not in the sampling subset that have an error less than theerror threshold; and determine an error of the inliers.
 25. The UE ofclaim 24, wherein, to select the sampling subset from the set ofpositioning sources, the at least one processor is configured to selectpositioning sources within the set of positioning sources to comprisethe sampling subset randomly, according to a pseudorandom sequence, orfrom a predefined list of subsets of positioning sources within the setof positioning sources.
 26. The UE of claim 20, wherein, to reportinformation about at least one of the subsets of positioning sourceswithin the consistency group, the at least one processor is configuredto identify the positioning sources included in each subset.
 27. The UEof claim 20, wherein, to report information about at least one of thesubsets of positioning sources within the consistency group, the atleast one processor is configured to report an error associated witheach subset, reporting an error for each positioning source included inthe subset, reporting the error for each positioning source with respectto the error threshold, reporting the error with respect to a consensusvalue produced by the subset, or a combination thereof.
 28. The UE ofclaim 20, wherein, to report information about at least one of thesubsets of positioning sources within the consistency group, the atleast one processor is configured to report subsets having an error thatsatisfies a threshold reporting value.